United Nations

Peace Operations 2009

YEAR IN REVIEW

Table of contents
2 ] I ntroduction: New strategies to help peace
operations meet today’s demands
11 ] A New Horizon for peacekeeping
13 ] In Memoriam
15 ] Women in Peacekeeping: The power to empower
20 ] Blue helmets prepare to go green
22 ] Thousands join UN Volunteers for the challenge
25 ] Protection of civilians by peacekeepers gets
new impetus
42 ] Peacebuilding: consolidating the gains of
peacekeeping
44 ] A more promising outlook in Haiti
46 ] DDR evolves to meet new challenges
47 ] T raining and transparency in conduct
and discipline
54 ] Helping pave the road to peace in Cyprus
55 ] The UN mission in Georgia ends
57 ] T imor-Leste: towards selfsustainability, social
cohesion and development
60 ] An unsettling year for the mission in Afghanistan
62 ] Iraq: Coping with a “Herculean task”
64 ] Nepal’s peace process falters
65 ] Stability maintained in Kosovo
65 ] UNMOGIP monitors ceasefire in Jammu
and Kashmir
Cover photo: A member of the Nepalese contingent participates in a medal
award ceremony in recognition of their service to the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 20 March 2009.
(UN Photo by Logan Abassi)
A military officer of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
(MINUSTAH) gives food to children. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 20 March 2009.
(UN Photo by Marco Dormino)
Interviews > > >
5 ] Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping Operations
8 ] Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for
Field Support
Peacekeeping in Africa > > >
27 ] MONUC — A watershed year for the protection
of civilians
31 ] The long journey to sustain peace in Darfur
33 ] UNMIS tackles a rough year in Southern Sudan
36 ] A year of transition for MINURCAT
37 ] Supporting peace operations in Somalia
38 ] Progress towards peace in Somalia
39 ] Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral process moves ahead
41 ] Security Council downsizes UNMIL based on
achievements on the ground
On alert in the Middle East > > >
48 ] UNIFIL’s strategic communications: actions speak
louder than words
51 ] UNSCO helps Gaza recover from January conflict
52 ] UNTSO remains active in the Middle East
52 ] UNDOF acts to keep the peace in the Golan Heights
Peace operations facts and figures > > >
67 ] Top 10 troop contributors
67 ] Surge in uniformed UN peacekeeping personnel
from 1991-2009
67 ] Top 10 Providers of assessed financial contributions
68 ] United Nations peacekeeping operations
70 ] United Nations political and peacebuilding missions
72 ] Peacekeeping contributors
 One UN,
One family grieving
Hédi Annabi (Tunisia)
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and Head
of Mission, MINUSTAH
Luiz Carlos da Costa (Brazil)
Principal Deputy Special
Representative of the
Secretary-General
Douglas Coates (Canada)
Acting Police Commissioner
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
as
On 12 January 2010, two weeks after this publication, intended to
cover events of the previous year, was finished, tragedy befell the
country of Haiti and the UN peacekeeping mission deployed there.
The true scale of the losses was still unknown at the time of this
writing. The mission known as MINUSTAH was decimated. Its top
leadership, including two of peacekeeping’s most formidable and
beloved men, was gone. International civil servants from countries
around the world lay under the rubble alongside dozens of their
Haitian colleagues. Whatever the ultimate count, the loss of UN
staff was by far the greatest for any single event in peacekeep-
ing’s 62-year history. And yet as soon as the shaking stopped,
the survivors carried on. The people of Haiti, and their colleagues,
needed them.
For this edition, we had decided to change the headline of our
annual MINUSTAH story. Instead of the usual rendition of “grim
but looking better,” the 2009 headline reads, “A more promising
outlook for Haiti.” Indeed, MINUSTAH was making a difference. Se-
curity had improved. A better life for Haitians seemed almost imag-
inable. The cornerstones for a sustainable peace were being laid.
Haiti was not just a “duty station” for rotating peacekeepers. It was
a passion and a place where many — especially those who served
there recently — believed that peacekeeping could make a differ-
ence, even after five different missions to that island country. Haiti
challenged the traditional norms and practices of peacekeeping.
Peacekeeping became “robust,” and challenges were met, creatively
and in friendship with the Haitian people.
And now, as Haiti begins to recover from its apocalypse, we think of
our colleagues who devoted their lives to peacekeeping and to Haiti.
Colleagues, friends, spouses, bosses, assistants,…soldiers, lawyers,
police officers, political analysts, human resources managers, civil
administrators — the entire spectrum of a UN peacekeeping mis-
sion was represented in this terrible event. As a UN family, we have
lost some of our most cherished elders and many, many siblings.
And yes, some of their small children as well.
To Hedi Annabi, one of peacekeeping’s most respected practitio-
ners, and Luiz Carlos Da Costa, who recruited and sustained many
of us in the job, and to our many colleagues in the UN in Haiti, we
salute you and bid you farewell. We will always miss you.
1
 Introduction: New strategies to help peace
operations meet today’s demands
The United Nations’ response to
conflict and political crises evolved
in 2009, as once again UN peace
operations were at the centre of
global efforts to protect the vul-
nerable and nurture fragile peace
all over the globe.
With its largest deployment ever
on the ground, the Departments of
Peacekeeping Operations and Field
Support began a major reform effort
to perfect the tool of UN peace-
keeping as the Organization’s flag-
ship peace and security activity.
At the same time, in the Department
of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UN
peacebuilding entities, other tools
were being refined to better prevent
conflicts from emerging or re-emerg-
ing and to reduce the dependence
and stress upon peacekeeping.
This publication concerns peace
operations in the field, including
peacekeeping operations led by
the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations (DPKO) and political
missions and peacebuilding sup-
port offices led by DPA. Both types
of peace operations are supported
by the Department of Field Support
(DFS), itself in the midst of craft-
ing a new strategy for more effi-
cient support to its vast, diverse
and far-flung operations.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
compared his vision of changes in
the UN peace and security system
to the physical renovations that
began at UN Headquarters in New
York in 2009, telling world leaders
gathered for the September 2009
General Assembly,
“Our United Nations will be com-
pletely renovated. Our common
ambition is to make this outward
renovation the symbol of our in-
ward renewal.
“That is why we have placed such
emphasis on building a stronger
United Nations for a better world.
We have made progress in deliv-
ering as one UN. We have made
strides in getting peacebuilding
right, so that societies emerging

A UN armoured personnel carrier is transported in Kerfi,

Eastern Chad, as a local man and his donkey look on.
N’Djamena, Chad. (UN Photo by Olivia Grey Pritchard)

2 YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS 2

 Brazilian and Uruguayan boats
leave Grosses Cayes Island. Brazil-
ian UN peacekeepers, in coordina-
tion with Uruguayan UN peacekeep-
ers, distribute food and provide
medical care to two isolated com-
munities in Grosses Cayes Island.
Les Cayes, Haiti. January 2009.
(UN Photo by Marco Dormino)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
from war do not slide back
into conflict. We have sharp-
ened our tools of mediation
and diplomacy so that we
can stop crises from escalat-
ing into broader and more
costly tragedies. We created
the Department of Field Sup-
port, and we are developing
the ‘New Horizon’ strategy to
make peacekeeping more ag-
ile and effective.
“In this, we need the strong
support of Member States, just
as we do to secure the safety
of our brave staff serving in
dangerous places, too many of
whom have lost their lives in
the causes we all serve.”
Today’s UN peace operations
are truly a global endeavor.
At the end of 2009, more
than 120,000 women and men
from 116 countries were serv-
ing under the blue flag in 15
peacekeeping operations and
two special political missions,
led by DPKO in Africa, in Asia,
in Europe and in the Middle
East—an historic high. (DPA
was fielding another 11 field-
based political missions or
peacebuilding support offic-
es.) And this growth is not just
numerical: today’s peacekeep-
ers and peace operation per-
sonnel are increasingly called
upon to deploy into desolate
and precarious environments
and to perform increasingly
complex and sensitive tasks.
Fulfilling these difficult man-
dates comes at a high price:
more than 100 UN staff died
while serving on UN peace op-
erations in 2009 alone.
Defining the parameters of
peacekeeping in order to
make it more effective in
the face of contemporary
global conflicts, reduced
resources and high expecta-
tions of success is part of
the objective of the “New
Horizon” project, a far-
reaching dialogue among all
the partners of peacekeeping
launched this year by Alain
Le Roy and Susana Malcorra,
Under-Secretaries-General
for Peacekeeping Operations
and Field Support.
“Over the course of the last
year there has been an in-
tense and broad debate
within the United Nations
on how we can meet these
challenges,” Mr. Le Roy said.
“What this debate has dem-
3
 onstrated is the strength of the
global commitment to UN peace-
keeping. Equally, however, it has
highlighted the strains on the
peacekeeping system.”
Other developments of the past
year in peacekeeping include the
observance of women’s role in
peacekeeping during the Inter-
national Day of UN Peacekeepers.
As 2010 marks the 10-year anni-
versary of Security Council reso-
lution 1325, the role of women
in peace processes is certain to
receive even greater attention in
the coming year.
Peacekeeping missions gained
new mandates to protect women
and children from sexual violence
during armed conflict, with Se-
curity Council resolution 1888,
approved unanimously in Septem-
ber 2009. Secretary-General Ban
called it “a call to action (and)
an ambitious platform for intensi-
fying this struggle.” The previous
year, with its resolution 1820, the
Council had determined that sex-
ual violence used in conflict con-
stituted a threat to sustainable
peace and security. Peacekeeping
operations were tasked with re-
porting on and preventing where
possible, sexual violence in con-
flict and post-conflict situations
where they are deployed.
How peacekeepers and others can
fulfill Security Council mandates
on the protection of civilians in
general was also probed and tested
in 2009, and an independent re-
port commissioned by DPKO and
the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is-
sued in late December promised
to form a basis for strengthening
4 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
the capacity of UN actors to fulfill
these important mandates.
The need for such attention grew
particularly critical in the Dem-
ocratic Republic of the Congo.
With mandates both to protect
civilians and to support the na-
tional armed forces of the demo-
cratically elected government of
the DRC, the UN mission, MONUC,
faced an extremely difficult di-
lemma in fulfilling these core
tasks in 2009, when the Congo-
lese army was accused of crimes
against civilians during MONUC-
backed operations.
Facing complex peace and se-
curity challenges in Africa, the
UN strengthened its partner-
ship with and support to African
Union peacekeeping endeavors,
most actively in 2009 in Somalia
and Darfur.
The Department of Political Affairs
also focused greater emphasis on
field operations in 2009.
Secretary-General Ban had tasked
DPA with developing the politi-
cal tools of diplomacy and media-
tion to reduce the massive cost of
conflicts and their aftermath, and
to render DPA a more mobile and
operational platform for conflict
prevention, peacemaking and post-
conflict peacebuilding, according
to DPA Under-Secretary-General B.
Lynn Pascoe.
For DPA, this has meant adopting a
stronger culture of action; profes-
sionalizing mediation and strength-
ening electoral assistance—both
as tools for conflict prevention;
strengthening its management and
staffing of field operations and its
partnerships within and outside
the UN system.
Working closely with DPA and
DPKO, the Peacebuilding Commis-
sion, Fund and Support Office also
took on new missions and sup-
port for post-conflict strategies
and projects proposed by national
authorities in several countries to
keep international support flowing
after peacekeepers depart. DPKO
also began exploring what peace-
building tasks should and could be
undertaken by peacekeepers and
how to deploy civilian staff more
quickly to strengthen rule of law in
a post-conflict country.
In its second year, the DPKO Of-
fice of Rule of Law and Security
Institutions (OROLSI) supported
UN missions to help national
authorities consolidate lasting
peace by establishing justice and
security systems. Taking a holistic
approach to the rule of law within
peacekeeping, OROLSI links un-
der one entity disarmament, de-
mobilization and reintegration of
combatants; training and support
to police, justice officials and cor-
rection officers; security sector re-
form and the removal of mines and
unexploded ordinance.
“We are …the only organization
that can deploy comprehensive
peace operations integrating mili-
tary, police and civilian compo-
nents,” Secretary-General Ban told
an audience in Ireland in 2009.
In 2010, the UN will continue
to strengthen its comprehensive
peace and security apparatus,
while the tasks of UN peace opera-
tions promise to grow even more
crucial, complex and in demand. 
Interview with Alain Le Roy
Under-Secretary-General Alain Le
Roy leads the world’s second largest
deployed military force (after that
of the US) and thousands of civilian
staff working on a wide variety of
tasks in 15 peacekeeping missions
operating around the globe, and at
UN Headquarters. He consented to
do an interview on the challenges
facing UN peacekeeping.
Question: You lead the largest
peacekeeping deployment ever.
How could you characterize your
first year in the job at the helm
of the Department of Peacekeep-
ing Operations?
Alain Le Roy: I will quote my pre-
decessor, Jean-Marie Guéhenno,
who said that the job is both ex-
ceptional and overwhelming. It is
exceptional because of the level
of responsibility involved and the
opportunity to provide a contri-
bution to peace and security in a
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
large number of countries and for
people who are in critical need.
At the same time, it is an over-
whelming responsibility, as lead-
ing simultaneously 15 peacekeep-
ing operations is obviously a very
delicate challenge. The United Na-
tions is engaged in solving a large
number of political crises around
the world and is present in some
of most difficult areas, such as the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) and Afghanistan.
Q: What was your greatest surprise
in coming to UN headquarters?
ALR: I had previously worked in
UN peacekeeping operations in
Sarajevo in 1995 and in Kosovo
in 1999. I used to regularly come
to UN Headquarters then. When I
took up my post in New York, I im-
mediately noticed the higher level
of experience and professionalism
of the entire staff compared with
what I had experienced ten years
Alain Le Roy (left), Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, during
a visit to eastern DR Congo. Here, Mr. Le Roy is escorted to a MONUC military
base by Force Commander General Babacar Gaye (right). 31 October 2009.
(UN Photo by Ian Steele)
earlier. Many lessons were learnt
from the serious failures of the
mid-1990s in Somalia, Rwanda
and Bosnia. I was also struck by
the outstanding dedication of
the peacekeeping staff both at
Headquarters and in the field. I
was impressed by the scope of
our tasks. DPKO and the Depart-
ment of Field Support together
employ about 1,000 staff to sup-
port 115,000 peacekeepers de-
ployed in the field. In NATO, the
ratio is one headquarters staff
member supporting four people
on the ground.
Q: What are some of the recent
achievements of peacekeeping?
ALR: The media tend to mostly
focus on the difficulties we are
facing, for example, in the Sudan
and in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo. But in these two coun-
tries, our peacekeeping opera-
tions are providing protection for
5
 millions of people. In Darfur, more
than two million internally dis-
placed persons need protection. In
the Kivu provinces in eastern DRC,
over 10 million people may be
threatened by violence. Although
we try every day to contribute to
the protection of civilians in these
two countries, this essential task
is an extremely complex one to
fully implement.
We have also launched a reflection
on ways to improve peacekeeping
entitled “New Horizon.”
At the operational level, much
progress was made in most of our
missions. In Liberia, for instance,
UNMIL contributed to the exten-
sion of state authority throughout
the country, the training of the
Liberian National Police and the
strengthening of rule of law insti-
tutions. In Burundi, the implemen-
tation of the 2007 Peace Agree-
ment is almost completed, and
presidential elections are sched-
uled for 2010.
In Haiti, MINUSTAH has contrib-
uted significantly to the restora-
tion of security. A priority for the
United Nations now is to consoli-
date the security gains by foster-
ing economic development and
attracting investment. This is why
the Secretary-General appointed
former US President Bill Clinton as
his Special Envoy to Haiti.
In Timor-Leste, President José
Ramos-Horta recently stated in
an address to the Security Council
that without the United Nations’
assistance, his country would have
fallen into chaos. Today, UNMIT
(the UN mission in Timor-Leste)
is progressively handing over law
enforcement responsibilities to the
Timorese police.
1
Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, 21 August 2000 (A/55/305, S/2000/809)
6 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
In Lebanon, UNIFIL allowed the
Lebanese Army’s return to the
south of the country in 2006 for
the first time in years, and on
many occasions the mission pre-
vented a deadly escalation of inci-
dents. Since 2006, there have been
no casualties along the Blue Line
between Israel and Lebanon. These
are just a few examples among a
host of others of how ‘blue helmets’
are protecting every day hundreds
of thousands of lives.
Q: “New Horizon” is an idea you
inspired and is described else-
where in this publication. Briefly,
what was your thinking in creat-
ing it and what are you hoping to
achieve through this process?
ALR: Before assuming my post
here, in August 2008, I reread the
Brahimi Report1. It appeared to me
that while most recommendations
remained entirely valid, they dated
back to the year 2000, a period
when less than 25,000 peacekeep-
ers were deployed on the ground.
Therefore, 10 years later, it seemed
essential to re-examine the Bra-
himi report, to review the recom-
mendations that had not been fully
implemented and to analyze the
new challenges facing peacekeep-
ing, particularly with regard to the
surge in demand for personnel and
the increased complexity of our
peacekeeping mandates.
Today, peacekeeping missions work
in a broad range of areas including
Security Sector Reform (SSR); Disar-
mament, Demobilization and Rein-
tegration (DDR) of former combat-
ants; strengthening of rule of law
institutions and electoral support.
Today, the number of personnel in
UNAMID (The UN-African Union Mis-
sion in Darfur) alone is higher than
that of all the peacekeeping opera-
tions at the time when the Brahimi
Report was published.
So, during my first month in of-
fice, I launched the “New Horizon”
process with the goal of forging a
greater consensus on the future
direction of UN peacekeeping be-
tween three essential partners: the
Security Council who decides on
the deployment of our peacekeep-
ing operations; the troop and po-
lice contributing countries and the
UN Secretariat, which plans and
manages these operations in order
to adapt UN peacekeeping to to-
day’s new realities.
Q: You traveled to several mission
areas this year: what impressed
you most?
ALR: This was the acknowledge-
ment expressed by the local popu-
lation in countries where peace-
keeping missions are operating.
The people I met in Lebanon, Hai-
ti, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, the Su-
dan, in the DRC….in other words
in every county of operation, con-
veyed to me not only their key
concerns, but also their apprecia-
tion for the work of the United
Nations. Also, while I witnessed
extremely diverse situations, each
time I noted the incredible enthu-
siasm and strong dedication of the
staff serving, sometimes in very
difficult living conditions.
Q. You have made visiting and
talking to Troop-Contributing
Countries (TCCs) and potential
TCCs a priority. What are the
prospects for future TCCs?
ALR: All of the main troop-and
police-contributing countries that
I visited expressed their pride and
their willingness to continue to
participate in peacekeeping op-
Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-Gen-
eral for Peacekeeping Operations,
greets a representative of a local
community in West Darfur. Darfur,
Sudan. 14 July 2009. (UN Photo
by Nektarios Markogiannis)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
erations and, if possible, to
step up their contribution.
However, it is important – and
this one of the objectives of
“New Horizon”- to share more
equitably the contribution to
peacekeeping, including with
developed countries.
Q. Terrorist and criminal at-
tacks threatened and claimed
the lives of UN staff in the
field this year. How do these
risks affect peacekeeping in
general?
ALR: It is clear that over the
past few years, UN personnel
have often become a target,
although they are, by defini-
tion, deployed to protect the
population. This is a major
issue. Therefore, we need to
take all the necessary steps
to strengthen the security and
safety of UN staff. This will re-
quire an increased budget for
security, which we have asked
of Member States. We also need
to strengthen prevention and
protection arrangements.
Q. What should we look
forward to in 2010 for UN
peacekeeping?
ALR: We are hoping to reach a
common position within the Se-
curity Council and the General
Assembly’s Special Committee
on Peacekeeping Operations-
the so-called “C34 Committee”
on priority issues on today’s
peacekeeping agenda such
as the protection of civilians,
robust peacekeeping and the
strengthening of operational
capacities and the linkage with
peacebuilding activities. We
need to reform collectively the
peacekeeping tool to make it
more effective and more ca-
pable of meeting today’s chal-
lenges. I sincerely hope that
during the first months of
2010, significant progress will
be achieved, drawing on the
proposals that we submitted
to Member States.
From an operational viewpoint,
all current peacekeeping mis-
sions must continue to work
toward the stabilization of the
situations they are facing, so
as to be able, sooner or later,
to withdraw. Since the origin
of UN peacekeeping, 63 mis-
sions were established and 48
were closed. Our goal is never
to maintain a permanent peace-
keeping presence.
For our operations in the DRC
and in the Sudan, 2010 will be
a particularly challenging year.
However, we will continue to
do our utmost for peace to per-
sist in all the countries where
we are deployed. 
7
 Interview with Susana Malcorra
Under-Secretary-General Susana Mal-
corra heads the Department of Field
Support, which provides logistical
and operational support to more
than 120,000 UN personnel on glob-
al field operations.
Question: Ms. Malcorra, you have
come up with a new strategy for
supporting peacekeeping. What
is the basic objective?
Susana Malcorra: Our people have
done an incredible job trying to
address the increasing challenges.
But we realized that we had to
think through a different way of
running this business, because the
business has changed in the last
few years, not only in size, but
also in complexity. We are trying to
establish a new way to deliver our
8 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
services based on a few principles.
One is to get there faster at the
beginning with a more modularized
approach, to do a better job of pre-
deployment preparation…and im-
prove services so that we can not
only get the goods there, but also
get them up and running. We are
trying to build rosters to have peo-
ple available to be deployed, but
also to sign agreements with gov-
ernments and private companies to
have a stand-by capacity.
Another important element: we
have grown to a size where we
have large missions located in ar-
eas where we can share certain
resources among missions, with
regional service centres. This will
give us economies of scale, bet-
ter quality and a more stable base
Susana Malcorra, USG for Field Support, visits peacekeepers in Darfur. (UN Photo)
of services. We hope to get these
centres in places that can be de-
fined as family duty stations so our
staff will have options to serve on
missions…in places that can bet-
ter accommodate the planning of
a career. There would be staff wel-
fare opportunities. We’re planning
all this to be more effective, but
also more efficient, mindful that
resources are a key question these
days among Member States.
Q: Give us an idea of the scope of
the challenge you face in your job.
SM: We run an operation that is
close to $9 billion. Of that, peace-
keeping is close to $8 billion, and
some of the special political mis-
sions are also our responsibility.
We also support the African Union
 Under-Secretary-General Susana Mal-
corra during a visit to the DR Congo.
Here, Ms. Malcorra arrives in Bukavu,
South Kivu, accompanied (from left to
right) by General Ghumman, Cdr. South
Kivu Brigade and Aliou Sene, MONUC
Head of Office, Bukavu.
26 August 2009.
(MONUC Photo by Jacqueline Chenard)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
in AMISOM (Somalia). So we
have a very diverse set of
missions that we are respon-
sible for. And they take place
in very remote areas, where
we literally don’t have any-
thing from which we can start
growing, areas where security
and safety are sometimes very
low, where sometimes you’re
not necessarily welcomed. In
that context, being able to
establish a mission that will
serve 20-30,000 people is our
biggest challenge. We need
to do that in a way that ad-
dresses the needs of the peo-
ple who are being deployed
to live in reasonable accom-
modations, to have water, to
have reasonable food service,
to have some welfare capaci-
ty. And when you think about
supply lines that sometimes
are 2,000 kilometres, partly
without roads as in Darfur
and Chad, or when you think
about getting to Mogadishu,
where many of our ships have
been shelled, that’s the type
of challenge we face. All of
this, together with the dif-
ficulty of bringing people
on board, the right people,
at the right time, and then
retaining them for the long
term,…: that is also our
challenge.
Q: What needs to be done
to speed up deployment of
staff on missions?
SM: I don’t see a single an-
swer to this. We need a com-
bination of tools, and that’s
what we are trying to put
together. We need incen-
tives for people so they can
value the fact they are first
on the ground. …We need
agreements established
with some governments to
help us with certain ca-
pacities…We’re working on
agreements with the private
sector that will allow us to
have certain services on
stand-by, such as contrac-
tors to build up camps with
a much faster turn-around.
But we need to do it in a
way that isn’t very expen-
sive, and we need to make
sure we can find contrac-
tors in all regions of the
world….No single solution
will fix all the problems, but
that is our target.
9
 Q. You’ve proposed reducing
the environmental footprint
of peacekeeping. How can you
green the blue helmets?
SM: …. Peacekeeping operations do
have a huge impact on the ground,
from the water we need, to the dis-
posal of waste, to the equipment
we leave behind. So we are trying
to design our camps with the en-
vironment in mind. More standard-
ized and modularized approaches
are part of it. Another example:
we spend a huge amount of money
bringing in fuel to light the camps.
Today those lights can be served
by solar panels or wind power. This
would reduce the need for fuel but
also make us more efficient and in-
dependent, as we wouldn’t need a
supply line. So there’s an environ-
mental impact and a safety impact.
The challenge is to be able to pro-
duce specifications so that we get
the right solutions.
Q. How will the ongoing changes
in staff recruitment affect peo-
ple interested in joining peace-
keeping?
SM: We are working closely with
the Office of Human Resource Man-
agement (OHRM) on a new system
being introduced in 2010 which
will be much more open, more
user-friendly and will allow people
to track their own application. We
are working hard to establish solid
rosters. A lot of changes are hap-
pening at the same time. We may
not be able to see the result for a
little while. The main thing is to
simplify the process. And we need
to be able to easily assess the skills
and profiles of people and to allow
them to see if they fit the profiles
required.
Q. How will the changes benefit
field staff?
10
SM: The Secretary-General was at
the helm of the notion of creating
a global secretariat, so that people
in the field and headquarters will
be considered the same. This notion
of our staff in the field being sec-
ond class bothered him, bothered
me, bothered all of us. This was
something that we did, and it was
approved by the General Assembly
last year. Now you can apply to
a job anywhere in the Secretariat
and you are an internal applicant.
We were aiming at another piece
of reform, to bring our staff to an
equivalent level with the funds and
programmes, especially in hardship
duty stations and non-family mis-
sions. That piece was not accept-
able to Member States. They felt
our proposal was not ready. So we
are going back next year to work
on this. Our missions are not fam-
ily duty stations, and the notion of
a second household requires some
kind of compensation.
Q. How can we attract more wom-
en to peacekeeping?
SM: We are going up in numbers of
leaders and that’s a good sign as the
more women you have in leadership,
the more they will be focused on
bringing more women on board. Not
to say our male colleagues aren’t
doing that, but it’s always good to
have a trickle-down from leadership.
Our main problem is in mid-career,
because retaining women in their
thirties, women who have made a
choice to have a family, not only to
work, and retain them in the places
where we serve, is very difficult. We
need to first improve the conditions
of living in those places, but also
we need to improve conditions for
them to return should they take
some time off. Being able to keep
track of those who left and welcome
them back and not penalize them is
part of what we need to do.
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
Q. What has been the effect of
changes in UN conduct and dis-
cipline policy on sexual exploita-
tion by peacekeepers?
SM: Recognition of the problem
is at a much higher level. We dis-
cuss it every single time we meet
with Member States providing
troops or police. We have a very
solid system to address the prob-
lem and expeditiously get infor-
mation to Member States so they
can follow up. We have a track-
ing system that shows that feed-
back is starting to come in. Are
we there? No we aren’t. The fact
that the General Assembly decided
the troop-contributing countries
should handle this on their own
is very important because now
they are in charge of raising the
bar in their own countries. It’s
had a very important effect. The
difficulty for us is getting the fi-
nal result (of an investigation)
may take a bit longer. We need to
persuade everybody that one case
is too many, even though when
you see that we deploy more than
200,000 military and police in one
year, the numbers are very mini-
mal. And we do that by putting on
pressure and keeping it at the top
of our agenda.
Q. What is on the agenda in 2010?
SM: Hopefully the Member States
will endorse our support strategy
so that we have the opportunity to
change the way we do business. We
have many challenges in the places
where we are deployed, and you
never know what new ones may
come in situations that may dete-
riorate. Our biggest work will be to
streamline human resources reform
so we can deliver qualified, skilled
people as our missions need them.
That will be my first priority. 
 A New Horizon for peacekeeping
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits the Tavan Tolgoi
Peace Operations Support Training Centre, near Ulaan-
baatar, Mongolia, where the nation’s troops are trained
before service with the United Nations. 26 July 2009.
(UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
As UN peacekeeping entered its
61st year, Member States and the
UN Secretariat were asking funda-
mental questions about the future
directions of this flagship activity
of the Organization. Begun in 2008
and brought to fruition in 2009,
the “New Horizon” process became
the main organizing framework for
a major review of the future of UN
peacekeeping.
Several factors prompted the Sec-
retariat’s decision to launch the
New Horizon project. First, 2010
would be a key year for two ongo-
ing reform and review efforts. The
Peace Operations 2010 agenda laid
out by the Department of Peace-
keeping Operations (DPKO) in late
2005 would reach its conclusion.
And the Report of the High Level
Panel on UN Peace Operations (bet-
ter known as the Brahimi Report,
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
after its principle author) would
have its 10-year anniversary. Both
were reviewed in 2009, setting the
stage for agreement in 2010 on
the way forward.
Second, serious challenges were
facing UN peacekeeping on the
ground, putting the peacekeeping
machinery under real strain. These
included new conflict in the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo; con-
tingency planning for a possible
operation in Somalia and the on-
going challenges of deploying op-
erations in Darfur and Chad-Central
African Republic. UN peacekeeping
was also driving transition efforts
in Timor-Leste, Haiti and Liberia,
while facing political challenges in
Kosovo, Afghanstan and Georgia.
This remarkable slate of activity
slowed the full implementation of
planned structural improvements
and ongoing reforms. In response,
the two new Under-Secretaries-
General responsible for peace and
security issues—Alain Le Roy and
Susana Malcorra—embarked on a
dialogue with UN Member States
about future directions, with the
goal of agreement on a set of
achievable targets for strengthen-
ing UN peacekeeping.
The process commenced at a retreat
called by Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon with the Security Council in
March 2009. Later that month, New
York University’s Center on Inter-
national Cooperation—a peace-
keeping think tank—produced a
study entitled Building on Brahimi.
DPKO and DFS produced their own
“non-paper” in July, called An
Agenda for Partnership: Charting a
New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping.
“New Horizon” sought to promote
11
 the notion of a global peacekeep-
ing partnership organized around
three key themes: (i) renewing the
peacekeeping partnership around a
shared vision; (ii) translating that
partnership into effective action on
the ground; and (iii) building to-
gether a system that could support
UN peacekeeping in the future.
The authors concluded that the suc-
cess of UN peacekeeping rests on
a global peacekeeping partnership
between the Security Council, Gen-
eral Assembly, troop-and finance-
contributing countries and the Sec-
retariat. But this partnership would
have to devise new and better ways
of managing peacekeeping. With
the unparalleled scale and diversity
of operations ongoing in 2008-9,
peacekeepers have been required
to do more, often in dangerous en-
vironments, with more constrained
resources than in the past. Mean-
while, the peacekeeping personnel,
administrative and financial systems
have not kept pace. More flexible
and responsive planning for and de-
ployment of peacekeeping missions
will be required to meet these chal-
lenges. New Horizon recognizes the
imperative to create a new way of
doing business, including a global
support system to deliver more ef-
fective peacekeeping and to protect
the personnel and resources that
Member States have provided.
The New Horizon document pro-
posed a range of practical rec-
ommendations that the peace-
keeping partnership should seek
to achieve in the coming years.
These included: agreement on
the role of UN peacekeeping and
clarification of what peacekeeping
can and cannot do, based on the
agreed principles of peacekeep-
ing. To succeed, this partnership
will need consensus on key tasks,
particularly controversial require-
12
ments such as robust peacekeep-
ing, protection of civilians and
critical peacebuilding tasks.
New Horizon also highlights the
centrality of a clear political strat-
egy, adequate support, effective
mission planning and management,
faster and more effective deploy-
ment and enhanced generation of
donor resources. The base of troop
and police contributors should be
expanded, as the developing world
currently provides the majority of
uniformed peacekeepers, and a
new field support strategy focused
on innovation, flexibility and ac-
countability should be developed.
Not since the year 2000 had there
been such activity related to UN
peacekeeping.
In parallel to the Secretariat ef-
fort and against the backdrop of
the still-unfolding global financial
crisis, the United Kingdom and
France launched a process within
the Security Council to examine
UN peacekeeping. A series of de-
bates through the first half of the
year culminated on 5 August with
a Presidential Statement that laid
out the Council’s recommenda-
tions and commitments relating
to peacekeeping.
At the same time, the Security Coun-
cil Working Group on Peacekeeping,
chaired by Japan, began its own di-
alogue, particularly with the troop-
contributing countries. Canada
also initiated a seminar series for
diplomats and field practitioners.
Other stakeholders also expressed
their concerns. Troop contributors
and field missions highlighted the
need for more meaningful consul-
tation with the Secretariat and the
Security Council; the importance of
realistic mandates with sufficient
resources to deliver them as well
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
as requested and better guidance
on tasks such as protection of ci-
vilians. Troop contributors cited
critical capability gaps that con-
strained the ability of missions to
deliver with the mobility and in-
tensity required today, such as in-
telligence capabilities and air and
ground mobility assets, particular-
ly helicopters. They urged better
training and more substantial hu-
man resources and procurement re-
forms to ensure that the necessary
people, goods and services could
be deployed more quickly. Delays
in the delivery of UN equipment,
logistical support and reimburse-
ments were also noted as issues
that sapped the contributors’ will
and ability to participate.
The major financial contributors
wanted the Security Council to be
more aware of the budgetary impli-
cations of its mandates. While the
peacekeeping budget had grown in
real terms (to $7.8 billion in 2009-
10), peacekeeping remained inex-
pensive when compared with other
major military expenditures, and
the costs reflected real operational
necessities. However, they sought
a stronger performance culture and
more realistic performance expec-
tations, and they wanted to explore
alternatives to large peacekeeping
operations, as financial constraints
seemed sure to grow in 2010.
In late 2009 this process culminat-
ed with the delivery by the Secre-
tary-General of two critical reports
to the General Assembly, which set
the stage for GA action on peace-
keeping in 2010. The Report to the
Special Committee on Peacekeeping
Operations presented key policy
priorities that would require GA
support, such as the protection of
civilians, robust peacekeeping and
peacebuilding tasks by UN peace-
keepers. The report also suggested
a longer term approach to address-
ing critical capability gaps and
aligning training and equipping
requirements with the demands of
modern UN peacekeeping.
The second report, the Field Sup-
port Strategy, laid out a compre-
hensive set of reforms for the
business of logistical and ad-
ministrative support to UN field
operations, including options for
faster deployment of goods and
services, a new regional service
centre concept to provide consoli-
dated support services to multiple
missions, as well as reforms to fi-
nancing mechanisms and human
resources management.
Additional priorities emanating
from the New Horizon effort will
continue to be pursued throughout
2010 and beyond. A clear result
of the process thus far has been a
commitment to continue meaning-
ful consultation between the three
key peacekeeping partners: the UN
Secretariat, contributing countries
and the Security Council. The chal-
lenge in 2010 will be to translate
that enhanced commitment into
real progress at the policy level
and most critically to improve
support to peacekeeping missions
in the field. 

In Memoriam
Tragedies in Haiti and Afghanistan
underscore sacrifices made by UN At a memorial service, a UN
staff member mourns the deaths
personnel of colleagues killed on 28
October 2009 in an attack on a
The year 2009 once again demon- guest house in Kabul, Afghani-
strated that the vital work carried stan. 3 November 2009.
out by the United Nations in coun- (UN Photo by Eric Kanalstein)
tries in the throes of or recovering
from conflict carries grave risks, as
116 staff members lost their lives
while serving with UN peacekeep-
ing or political missions. Some
United Nations staff died as a re-
sult of direct attacks, including
acts of terrorism. Others lost their
lives to accidents or illness. The
United Nations family mourns their
deaths and honours their memory.

Two dreadful days in October high-

lighted the great dangers that in-
dividual UN staff members face on
behalf of the global organization.

On 9 October, a horrific accident

took the lives of six peacekeepers
from Uruguay and five from Jordan
when a plane from the UN Stabili-
zation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
crashed in a mountainous area of
southeastern Haiti. The plane had
been on a regular reconnaissance
flight when it crashed into the
side of a mountain in the Fonds-
Verrettes area, about 45 kilometres

YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 13

 UN peacekeepers pay their respects to 11 of their fellow soldiers killed in
an aircraft accident, at a memorial service in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 13
October 2009. (UN Photo by Marco Dormino)

from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
It was the largest loss of life for
UN peacekeeping in a single day in
several years.
At a moving ceremony in Port-au-
Prince, members of the peacekeep-
ing mission and Haitian officials as
well as the public heard a solemn
but inspiring message read by MI-
NUSTAH’s chief on behalf of Secre-
tary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“Those we remember today were
patrolling from the skies, but they
could see something farther on
the horizon: a brighter and more
hopeful future for all the people of
Haiti,” Secretary-General Ban said.
To show the Organization’s soli-
darity with the fallen peacekeep-
ers, the Secretary-General ordered
that the flag at UN Headquarters
be lowered, an honour normally re-
served for Heads of State.
Less than one month after that fa-
tal plane crash, terrorists disguised
as Afghan police officers attacked
a guest house in Kabul and bru-
tally killed five UN staff members
and injured nine more. Jossie Esto
of the Philippines, a UNV Volunteer
who worked with the UN Devel-
opment Programme (UNDP) elec-
tion team; Louis Maxwell, a close
protection officer from the United
States; Lawrence Mefful, a UN se-
curity officer from Ghana; Yah Lyd-
ia Wonyene, a UNV/UNDP elections
officer from Liberia; and Teshome
Mendefro Ergete, an Ethiopian na-
tional from UNICEF, were killed in
the attack.
“The men and women who gave
their lives today came to Af-
ghanistan armed not with guns
or bullets. They came with a more
powerful weapon – hope. Hope
for a better day for Afghanistan
and a commitment to help its
people build a better world and a
better future,” Secretary-General
Ban said.
Less than a week after the attack,
the Secretary-General paid an un-
announced visit to Kabul to express
his solidarity with the UN staff. He
also went to Dubai to meet with
some of the UN staff members who
were injured in the attack.
While these two tragedies—along
with the attack on the World Food
Programme in Islamabad in Octo-
ber which left five staff dead—may
have been the most high-profile
deadly incidents, they were cer-
tainly not the only ones for UN field

14 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

staff. Peacekeepers serving with
the African Union – United Nations
Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have
faced extreme dangers. The kill-
ing of five Rwandan peacekeepers
in two separate incidents in early
December raised the number to 22
peacekeepers killed in Darfur due
to direct acts of violence since the
beginning of 2008.
Elsewhere in Africa and around
the world, UN military and police
personnel have met similar fates.
Military and civilian de-miners—
personnel who regularly risk their
own safety to remove landmines
—have been killed or injured in a
number of different locations.
More than 2,500 brave men and
women have fallen since the UN
first undertook peacekeeping work
in 1948.
These UN staff leave behind more
than family and friends: they also
leave an enduring legacy of cour-
age and compassion that no bullet
can ever destroy. The Secretary-
General has urged survivors to draw
inspiration from the example of
those who have died: “We should
be proud of their achievements,
and determined to pay meaningful
tribute to their sacrifice. They have
not only helped populations in dire
need, they have also honoured
their countries and the United Na-
tions. Their service will remain a
source of hope and inspiration to
all of us who carry on their life-
saving work for peace.” 

Women in Peacekeeping: The power to empower

The special role of women
During wartime, women suffer ter-
rible atrocities, from physical abuse
to the collapse of their societies.
During peacekeeping, women are
not only key beneficiaries of the
United Nations presence, they are
also often its best asset.

Aware of this, the UN has been

working to recruit more women to
peacekeeping in all fields and at all
levels. The Departments of Peace-
keeping Operations and Field Sup-
port have joined forces to bring in
greater numbers of female troops,
police, human rights monitors and
other staff.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

continued his efforts to increase
the number of women in senior

Signe Poulsen (second from right),

a human rights officer of the UN
Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste
(UNMIT), and two officers of the vul-
nerable persons unit of the Timorese
National Police, interview the mother
of a victim of domestic violence, Dili,
Timor-Leste. 5 January 2009.
(UN Photo by Martine Perret)

YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 15

Women peacekeepers from Nigeria
extend a friendly hand to local
children as they patrol Martissant,
Port au Prince, Haiti. 24 April 2009.
(UN Photo by Marco Dormino)

peacekeeping posts, most re-
cently appointing Ameerah Haq
of Bangladesh, a veteran United
Nations official with wide experi-
ence in crisis areas, to become
his Special Representative and
Head of the UN Integrated Mis-
sion in Timor-Leste.
Experience has proven that wom-
en peacekeepers can perform the
same roles, to the same standards
and under the same difficult con-
ditions as their male counter-
parts. And in many cases, women
are better-placed to carry out
peacekeeping tasks. Whether in-
terviewing victims of sexual and
gender-based violence, working in
women’s prisons, assisting female
ex-combatants during demobiliza-
tion and reintegration into civilian
life, or mentoring female cadets
at police academies, women per-
sonnel are at an advantage. They
also play a major role in helping
empower women to rebuild their
war-torn countries.
“The point is not to achieve gender
parity for its own sake. The impera-
tive is to draw on the unique and
powerful contribution women can
make,“ said Secretary-General Ban
who has implored Member States to
contribute more female personnel
to the UN. “Female staffers can of-
ten better communicate with local
women, generating a greater sense
of security while serving as an ex-
ample of women’s empowerment.”
“We have done a lot but we need
to do a great deal more,” agreed UN
peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy,
noting that women peacekeep-
ers make a critical contribution in
areas such as security, reform of
state institutions and support to
political processes. And their work
encourages others to participate in
local peace processes.
Susana Malcorra, Under-Secre-
tary-General for Field Support,
concurred: “We have a long way
to go both with the military and
the police.”
Civilian peacekeepers
The UN has had some success re-
cruiting and promoting women
civilian peacekeepers—working in
civil affairs, human rights, elec-
tions, security sector reform, logis-
tics, medicine, public information
and beyond. Thirty percent of these
staffers are female. A similar per-
centage of women staff the Depart-
ments of Peacekeeping and Field
Support at the UN Headquarters
in New York. They have helped UN
peacekeeping operations achieve
tangible results on the ground.

16 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

“I know that women can make a
huge difference in peacemaking,
peacekeeping and peacebuild-
ing because I’ve seen it and been
part of it,” said Margaret Novicki,
a senior UN Department of Public
Information official and a former
chief of public information for UN
peacekeeping operations in Sierra
Leone and Liberia.
At an ceremony dedicated to
women peacekeepers in New York,
Novicki spoke of her experience
upon joining the UN peacekeeping
mission in Sierra Leone nearly a de-
cade ago:
“I was acutely aware that some-
thing was wrong with the bigger
picture: men were in complete
control of the instruments of war
and peace, and women were the
innocent and invisible victims.
Women had no voice whatsoever
in what was happening to them,
their families, and their country….
So I became determined that we in
the UN would give them a voice by
whatever means possible.”
She teamed up with a grassroots
activist, Zainab Bangura, to orga-
nize the first nationwide women’s
mobilization for peace, on Interna-
tional Women’s Day, in March 2001.
Women from around Sierra Leone
came out and marched, demanding
that their leaders come back to the
peace table.
“They eventually did and with the
UN’s help, peace came to Sierra
Leone,” Novicki said. In addition,
Ms. Bangura became a UN peace-
keeper in next-door Liberia, and
then Sierra Leone’s first woman
foreign minister.
UN Police
The UN Police have doubled the
representation of women in their
ranks over the past three years, to
8 percent. But DPKO is far from
satisfied with this number.The UN
needs more female police officers
to better protect and assist women
against rampant sexual abuse dur-
ing armed conflict. “By including
female police among our ranks,
we foster a safe environment for
victims to get the help they need
and deserve,” stated the Secretary-
General. “And by enabling victims
to feel secure enough to come
forward and press charges against
perpetrators, we fight the culture
of impunity that has prevailed for
too long.”
Anne-Marie Orler, DPKO’s deputy
police adviser, said that equal par-

A UN police officer from Thailand and a

Timorese national police officer visit the
family of a victim of domestic violence
in Gleno, Timor-Leste. 16 December
2009. (UN photo by Martine Perret)

YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 17

 ticipation of female police officers
at the United Nations empowers
the female population to report
cases of sexual and gender-based
crimes. “Much more can be done if
we have more female officers,” she
pointed out.
In seven United Nations peacekeep-
ing missions—Timor-Leste, Liberia,
Kosovo, Sudan, Haiti, Burundi and
Sierra Leone—UN police divisions
have helped create national spe-
cialized units that investigate and
assist victims of gender-based and
sexual violence.
To build on this success, the DPKO
police division launched a drive
to recruit more female police of-
ficers, aiming to reach 20 per-
cent of UN police in 2014. “The
long-term goal is, of course, to
have 50-50” as the gender ratio,
stressed Ms. Orler.
In September 2009, a delegation
of female police officers from UN
peacekeeping missions and their
national counterparts, as well
as representatives from police-
contributing countries to the UN,
reached out to hundreds of female
police officers worldwide at a train-
ing conference organized by the
International Association of Wom-
en Police in the US city of Seattle.
Some 625 policewomen participat-
ed in the conference, expressing a
keen interest in UN policing.
The following month, the UN-
INTERPOL Ministerial Meeting ad-
opted a declaration affirming the
positive contributions of female
police officers in peacekeeping op-
erations.
This interest followed widespread
media coverage of the 2007 deploy-
ment of an all-female Formed Po-
lice Unit from India to the UN Mis-
sion in Liberia. Their deployment
still stands as a great success: not
only have the officers helped make
the streets of Monrovia safer, they
have also set a shining example
for the women and girls of Libe-
ria, substantially boosting Liberian
women’s interest in joining their
own police service.
The Indian policewomen’s pres-
ence in Liberia “demonstrated that
women can play an increasingly
crucial role in the establishment
of the rule of law in post-conflict
countries,” said the Secretary-
General’s Special Representative in
Liberia, Ellen Margrethe Løj.
“To have strong, confident and ca-
pable women police officers in that
environment sends all the right mes-
sages,” said Andrew Hughes, DPKO’s
police adviser until late 2009. “If

Sergeant Dora Doroye (left), of the

UN Mission in Liberia, briefs members
of the Ghanaian battalion before
leading a patrol through Buchanan,
Liberia. 17 April 2009. (UN Photo by
Christopher Herwig)

18 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

these women can do it…then why
can’t women who are in this society
do the same thing? The answer is …
they can and they should.”
Military
The percentage of women serving
as military personnel in UN peace-
keeping missions remains at only
2 percent. The small number of
women soldiers serving with the
UN can be explained by the lack of
women serving in militaries around
the world (especially in combat
units). But many militaries have
much higher percentages of women
in their national forces than their
contributions to the UN indicate.
DPKO remains engaged with Mem-
ber States to ensure that they con-
tribute more women to the UN.
South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria
are among the troop-contributing
countries that should be com-
mended for sending large numbers
of women peacekeepers, according
to DPKO’s deputy gender adviser,
Comfort Lamptey.
“Female peacekeepers inspire, by
their very example, women and girls
in the often male-dominated world,”
said UNIFIL Force Commander Ma-
jor-General Claudio Graziano, where
many Ghanaians are deployed.
Sergeant Dora Dordoye, who leads
a team of nine Ghanaian soldiers
deployed in Liberia, said that just
like her male counterparts, she is
there to serve the local population.
“I am trained to be a professional
soldier to be called upon to carry
any assignment at any time.”
Outreach to Member States
To help raise the profile of this
important issue, to thank Member
States for providing women peace-
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
keepers and to encourage them to
contribute more, the Departments
of Peacekeeping Operations, Field
Support, and Public Information
decided to dedicate the Interna-
tional Day of UN Peacekeepers,
May 29, in 2009 to the theme,
“Women in Peacekeeping: The
Power to Empower.”
The three departments, together
with the field operations, orga-
nized events at UN Headquarters in
New York and at UN offices around
the world. A major multi-media
exhibit was on display at UN Head-
quarters, and photo exhibits, lec-
tures and round-table discussions
were held in several countries. UN
Television created a video (“Wom-
en in Peacekeeping: The Power
to Empower”), which was viewed
in UN sites globally and via You-
Tube (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=vAuFQj9xBYc).
Security Council support for
women peacekeepers
The UN Security Council has passed
three resolutions that highlight the
importance of deploying women
peacekeepers.
The first, adopted on 31 October
2000, was landmark resolution
1325 on “Women and Peace and
Security,” which recognized that
women bear the brunt of armed
conflicts, and thus should have
a central role in their prevention
and resolution. The resolution
stressed the importance of wom-
en’s equal participation and full
involvement in peace processes
and in efforts for the maintenance
and promotion of peace and se-
curity. It called for an expansion
of the role and contribution of
women in UN peacekeeping opera-
tions, in military, police, and ci-
vilian roles, as well as in positions
of leadership.
On 19 June 2008, the Security Coun-
cil adopted resolution 1820, encour-
aging troop and police-contributing
countries to deploy a higher per-
centage of women peacekeepers
or police to UN peacekeeping mis-
sions to protect civilians, includ-
ing women and children, and to
prevent sexual violence against
women and girls.
With resolution 1888 of 2009,
which aimed to further strength-
en the efforts of the internation-
al community to combat sexual
violence in armed conflict, the
Security Council acknowledged
that the presence of women
peacekeepers encourages local
women to participate in the na-
tional armed and security forces,
thereby helping to build a secu-
rity sector that is accessible and
responsive to all.
Looking ahead
With the tenth anniversary of res-
olution 1325 coming in 2010, the
United Nations can rightly claim
that it has strengthened its com-
mitment to increasing women’s
participation in UN peacekeeping
and made measurable progress in
2009. The Secretary-General, se-
nior peacekeeping officials, the Se-
curity Council and Member States
have all stressed the need for
more women peacekeepers. Prog-
ress on this front would enable
peacekeeping missions to better
serve the communities that they
are deployed to help and build
lasting peace in countries recov-
ering from war. 
19
 Blue helmets prepare to go green
Environmental issues such as
competition for dwindling or
lucrative resources often lie at
the heart of conflict. Conflict
in turn can devastate habitats,
making recovery to sustainable
peace a hard road. Recently,
peacekeeping mandates have
begun to address these issues.
And work is under way at UN
Headquarters on ways to de-
ploy large peacekeeping opera-
tions with a reduced impact on
the environment.
As green consciousness grows
among peace operation plan-
ners, new ways are being
sought to “green” peacekeep-
ing. The goal, according to
Susana Malcorra, Under-Sec-
retary-General for Field Sup-
port, is to “achieve a more
environmentally sensitive,
20
ecologically mindful mission
footprint,” she told the Gen-
eral Assembly this year.
In June 2009, Alain Le Roy,
Under-Secretary-General for
Peacekeeping, promulgated
an Environmental Policy for
UN Field Missions to develop
baselines and objectives for
missions on environmental is-
sues. “Each mission will take
actions to integrate environ-
mental measures into its plan-
ning and operations in order to
avoid and minimize the impact
of activities carried out by the
mission and its staff on the
environment and to protect
human health from such envi-
ronmental impact,” according
to the policy objectives.
The directive requires that
each mission establish envi-
ronmental policy, objectives Guatemalan peacekeepers con-
and control measures to be duct a tree-planting campaign
implemented throughout the at a school in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti. 26 January 2009.
lifetime of the operation.
(UN Photo by Damir Milinovic)
Each mission is also required
to design an environmental
action plan and create a post
of environmental officer.
Key areas to be covered by
mission environment policies
include waste, energy, water,
hazardous substances, wild
animals and plants and cul-
tural and historical resources
management. Each mission
also must develop an emer-
gency management plan for
environmental crises.
Missions are to follow the en-
vironmental laws of host coun-
tries and where there are none
or only a few, to follow multi-
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
Natural resources fuel
conflict in DRC
Since 2003, the Security Council has also
considered the environment in the con-
text of conflict over natural resources.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), surrounded by nine neighbouring
countries, remains the world’s leading ex-
ample of the financial losses and human
suffering caused by illegal trafficking
in natural resources. Foreign and local
armed groups compete with the Govern-
ment for the control of metal and mineral
deposits in particular. They are extracted
and exported illegally, and some of the
proceeds from sales abroad are used for
the illegal importation of weapons to
sustain the fight for control.
On 30 November 2009, Council resolution
1896 on the DRC again recognized the
“linkage between the illegal exploitation
of natural resources, illicit trade in such
resources and the proliferation and traf-
ficking of arms as one of the major fac-
tors fuelling and exacerbating conflicts
in the Great Lakes region of Africa….”
The November resolution asked the
international Group of Experts, estab-
lished to monitor arms flows, to report
on the purchasing, sourcing, acquisition
and processing of mineral products from
the DRC. It called on the Government
of the DRC and neighboring states to
exchange information on illegal traf-
ficking with MONUC and the Group of
Experts. It also called on Member States
to take measures to ensure that import-
ers and consumers of Congolese min-
eral products “exercise due diligence on
their suppliers and on the origin of the
minerals they purchase,” including by
keeping import and export statistics for
gold, cassiterite, coltan and wolframite.
The Council recommended that import-
ers and processors also adopt policies
and codes of conduct to prevent indi-
rect support to armed groups in the DRC
through illicit trading.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
lateral environmental agreements to
set their own minimum standards.
The policy is an attempt to address
the fact that peacekeeping can in-
advertently contribute to environ-
mental degradation in the rush to
deploy. In clearing areas for camps,
for example, trees are removed—
even in arid environments. In addi-
tion to felling hundreds of trees for
its camps in Darfur, for example,
the UN peacekeeping and humani-
tarian community decided to help
the local economy by purchas-
ing building bricks in situ instead
of importing them. This sudden
market for bricks and other wood
products spurred Darfurians to cut
and burn even greater amounts of
forest—already in serious decline-
-to produce them.
This could exacerbate the conflict,
which many, including Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, have said
was caused at least in part by
dwindling resources. DPKO’s “New
Horizon” agenda notes, “Threats
such as environmental chang-
es…..threaten many States and
contribute to growing political
and security instability.”
The Departments of Peacekeeping
Operations and Field Support are
joining forces with the UN Envi-
ronmental Programme (UNEP),
whose Executive Director Achim
Steiner has taken a keen interest
in finding creative ways both to
address the environmental roots of
conflict and to alleviate any stress
on the environment that might be
caused by a UN operation.
"The primary role of interna-
tional peacekeeping forces and
aid agencies is to keep the peace
and support vulnerable communi-
ties during difficult and distress-
ing times. But they also have the
responsibility to ensure that their
presence and operations have a
minimal ecological footprint and
do not aggravate environmen-
tal degradation, which may be a
dimension of the conflict," said
Steiner recently.
“A more environmentally respon-
sible aproach requires new think-
ing and capabilities,“notes DPKO’s
New Partnership Agenda.
Some UN operations have em-
barked on pilot projects to reduce
mission impact on the land. In Su-
dan, UNMIS and the Government
of Sweden are investing $5 million
to introduce technologies for the
treatment of waste, wastewater
and efficient use of water and en-
ergy on military posts with a goal
of a 30 percent reduction in water
consumption, 25 percent in ener-
gy expenditures and 60 percent of
waste volume.
Thirteen missions are also participat-
ing in UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign,
having pledged or planted approxi-
mately 118,000 trees in 2009.
Also during the past year, DFS
completed the field missions’
greenhouse gas emissions in-
ventory, requested by the Chief
Executives Board of all UN orga-
nizations in 2007. Results were
published in UNEP’s “Moving to-
ward a Climate-Neutral UN: the
UN System’s Footprint and Efforts
to Reduce It,” launched at the UN
Climate Change Conference in Co-
penhagen on 15 December.
In preparing the inventory for
missions, DFS looked at the green-
house gases (GHG) and their car-
bon dioxide equivalent, emitted by
air travel (commercial, troop rota-
tion and UN flights), road travel,
refrigerants, power generation and
21
 power purchases. (They did not in-
clude shipment of materials.) Thousands join UN Volunteers
The findings, which DFS believes
are underestimated—indicate that for the challenge
peace operations emitted about
1 million tons CO2-equivalent (in Conditions in UN peacekeeping operations through the United
2008), nearly two-thirds of that of and political missions can be very Nations Volunteers (UNV) pro-
the entire UN, or 1.7 million tons. challenging for personnel who gramme. Their motivations are as
must be on alert and operational diverse as their talents, yet the
Roughly speaking, the study despite personal discomforts and common thread binding them to-
showed that the amount of CO2eq separation from friends and fam- gether is their desire to contrib-
emitted in 2008 for the whole year ily. Yet every year thousands of ute to peace and development.
(about nine tons per staff member) people join UN peace operations
on a peacekeeping mission was a as UN Volunteers. Approximately 30 percent of in-
ton more than that for a resident ternational civilian peacekeep-
of the European Union. And when In 2009 more than 2,500 people ing personnel are UNVs, and they
compared to residents of the host participated in peacekeeping play an important role in UN
countries, the peacekeeping pro-
duction of CO2-equivlent gases
was far greater, i.e., 0.04 tons of
CO2-equivlant per person in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
for example. In short, peacekeep-
ing operations behave like devel-
oped countries while operating in
developing countries.

In 2008, DFS added a dedicated

post at UN Headquarters to coordi-
nate environmental initiatives, to
help mainstream the issue in all op-
erational activities and to develop
a framework to help the missions
implement the environmental pol-
icy. It will develop environmental
guidelines and a GHG emissions re-
duction strategy by the end of 2010
along with training materials,—all
to raise awareness and understand-
ing of the importance of the en-
vironment to peacekeepers’ daily
lives, to those of the local commu-
nity they work with and for, and to
the resolution of conflict and pro-
motion of peace. 

UN Volunteer Filippo Busconi from Italy attends

a meeting with village elders to build trust and
coordinate future activities, Ganachour IDP Site,
Goz Beida, Chad. 15 April 2009
(UNV Photo by Harald Franzen)

22 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

The volunteers we lost…
On 28 October 2009, an armed attack on
the Bekhtar Guest House in Kabul, Afghan-
istan, claimed the lives of five UN person-
nel, including two UN Volunteers, Jossie
Esto and Yah-Lydia Wonyene.  Esto was a
mother of two from the Philippines, and
Wonyene was a mother of five from Liberia.
Both were serving as electoral outreach
and training coordinators with the UNDP/
ELECT Project. Their role included helping
recruit local people as civic educators and
district electoral field coordinators or poll-
ing officers—critical to the smooth opera-
tion of the August elections.  UNVs worked
directly with teams of Afghan nationals,
offering guidance and training on how
best to prepare local communities to take
part in the elections.
Esto and Wonyene had served previously
as UNVs in UN peacekeeping and spe-
cial political operations in places such
as Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Liberia and
Nepal. Often the conditions they experi-
enced were tough and required a strong
degree of commitment and responsibility.  the disarmament, demobilization,
As civilian personnel, they often had to
don bullet-resistant vests and helmets
and travel in armored vehicles. They had
the disciplined and strong personalities
essential for the work.
Stuart Moran, UNV Programme Manager in
Afghanistan, described the commitment
of the two women to promoting peace
and development through volunteerism:  of close to 120,000 ex-combat-
“They came to Afghanistan as UNV Vol-
unteers in solidarity with the people of
the country.  They shared their skills and
lives with their Afghan colleagues and
their services embodied the very essence
of volunteerism.”
For Flavia Pansieri, UNV Executive Coordi-
nator, the loss of volunteer colleagues was
tragic: “They gave their lives in pursuit of
democracy in Afghanistan.  Their commit-
ment is an inspiration to us and volunteers
around the world to continue working to-
wards peace and development.”
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
operations.  These volunteers per-
form highly demanding tasks while
engaging with communities at the
grassroots level.
UNV deploys approximately 8,000
volunteers a year, of which almost
80 percent come from developing
countries, providing “South-South”
insights and support. Volunteers
work in peacekeeping, peacebuild-
ing and political assignments in
15 missions, including the Sudan,
the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Haiti
and Timor-Leste.  UN Volunteers
make a distinctive contribution to
the work of UN peacekeeping, and
the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations has acknowledged their
professionalism and dedication.
From peace to development
Witty Golden Midaya of Malawi has
worked in Liberia since October
2004 as a UN Volunteer, firstly as
a reintegration field monitor in
rehabilitation and reintegration
joint implementation unit in Mon-
rovia, and subsequently as a UN
Development Programme County
Coordinator under the communi-
ty-based recovery and develop-
ment programme.
“I contributed to the reintegration
ants, but also influenced a mind-
set change, getting people more
interested in agriculture and work-
ing hard,” he says, recalling those
days.  “I also promoted volunteer-
ism among my team and commu-
nity members, who are now always
willing to do voluntary work…
“The security situation remains
fragile, and living in a very remote
and isolated environment can take
its toll.  But when I look back at the
period I spent in Liberia, I strongly
believe I brought positive change
to the lives of many people.”
The spirit of volunteerism
UNVs bring a passionate commit-
ment that adds to their contribu-
tion to peace and development,
bringing positive change in the
communities where they work.  As
professionals, they bring their own
experience to bear, while they also
benefit from their volunteer work. 
“UNV volunteers are motivated by
the desire to reach out to communi-
ties, and to the vulnerable and mar-
ginalized, and to develop their ca-
pacities to participate actively and
constructively in the development
of their societies,” says UNV Ex-
ecutive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri.
However, “the personal and profes-
sional gain of a volunteer assign-
ment comes at a cost; for example,
living in difficult field conditions.”
One-third of the volunteers work in
peacekeeping. Astrede Karimi Mba-
ka, from Kenya, is assigned to the
UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS)
as a geographic information systems
(GIS) specialist.  The GIS unit col-
lects, prepares and distributes geo-
spatial information for UNMIS, other
UN agencies and international non-
governmental organizations.  Her
work involves providing digital and
print mapping services, enabling her
UN colleagues to plan the complex
logistics of a peacekeeping mission.
"Volunteers such as Ms. Mbaka
play a key role in the collection,
verification, management, storage,
analysis and dissemination of all
geospatial data," said unit chief
Major Haytham Saied.
Mkaba concedes that the tough
weather and working conditions in
23
 the Sudan require flexibility and are
not for everyone.  Yet, she asserts,
“I'd encourage anyone to become
a UNV volunteer.  I have grown
professionally and personally, also
managing to volunteer my free time
to train local students in GIS.”
UNVs also work with development
partners to reach out to communi-
ties affected by conflict. They work
in the UN Mission in the Central Afri-
can Republic and Chad (MINURCAT),
for example to support the creation
of security conditions conducive to
the voluntary, secure and sustain-
able return of displaced persons
and refugees from the Sudan and
DRC.  For Victor Angelo, Special
Representative of the Secretary
General and Head of MINURCAT,
the added value of UN volunteers
is their commitment.
“Volunteers hit the ground run-
ning,” he says. “I am very im-
pressed by volunteer engineers
or volunteers who work in move-
ment control in extremely harsh
conditions and still remain calm,
principled and in control, insist-
ing on the respect of rules.  Their
volunteer spirit is admirable.  I
have many staff who are profes-
sionals, but who could learn a
couple of things about dedication
from UN Volunteers.”
About 800 UNVs are currently serv-
ing with the UN mission in the DRC
(MONUC).  Kristen Petillon, from
France, works hand-in-hand with
the “Blue Helmets”.  An associate
civil affairs officer, he is one of six
UNVs deployed with Joint Protec-
tion Teams in North Kivu.  tract two child soldiers from one
"In practice," he says, "the team
assesses situations, identifies
threats and, in conjunction with
the ‘Blue Helmets’, formulates ap-
propriate responses."
But the teams must also react with
tailored approaches to dramatic
situations they encounter in the
field.  Shortly after Kristen’s team
arrived in the village of Walikale,
they discovered that a nearby vil-
lage was under imminent threat of
being caught in the crossfire be-
tween two warring factions.  The
Joint Protection Teams had to take
action immediately.
"Together with the ‘Blue Helmets’,
we negotiated a ceasefire and
asked for a temporary zone of sep-
aration and a retreat of the armed
units from their positions," he
says. "Moreover, thanks to some
delicate negotiations, the joint
protection team was able to ex-
of the groups."
“What adds value to our contribu-
tions within UN operations and
gives us strength to reach out to
the communities we serve in these
tough contexts, is the spirit of
volunteerism.” 

The UNV (United Nations Volunteer) Support Office

organizes the annual blood drive at UNOCI Headquarters
in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 17 June 2009.
(UN Photo by Ky Chung)

24 YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS 24

Civilians seek protection by gathering near a UNAMID base in Muhajeriya area, Darfur.16 January 2009. (UN Photo)
Protection of civilians by peacekeepers
gets new impetus
For the past 10 years, the United
Nations Security Council has re-
quired many peacekeeping missions
to include “protection of civilians”
as a core part of their work. While
that might sound like an obvious
duty for a peacekeeping force, pre-
vious mandates had not included
such language, and the current
mandates that do have left some
missions with either unclear ideas
of what “protection” means and/or
insufficient resources and capacities
to fully implement it. In addition,
in 2009, the Security Council also
mandated peacekeeping operations
to protect women and children from
sexual violence during conflict.
Recommending ways to improve
the implementation of protec-
tion mandates by UN peacekeep-
ing missions, the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations and Of-
fice for Coordination of Humanitar-
ian Affairs have released a report,
Protecting Civilians in the Context
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
of UN Peacekeeping Operations
(available at www.unprh.unlb.org).
The report identifies gaps between
the norms that have come to be
accepted and expected in terms of
protection of civilians in conflict
on the one hand, and the reality
of what means UN peacekeepers
and humanitarians actually have at
their disposal to protect people on
the ground, on the other.
Since the crises in Rwanda, Bosnia
and Somalia during the 1990s, the
Security Council and the UN Secre-
tariat have worked to improve the
overall effectiveness of UN peace-
keeping operations, including their
capabilities to protect civilians,
the report notes. A total of 10 UN
peacekeeping operations (eight cur-
rently) have been explicitly mandat-
ed to “protect civilians under immi-
nent threat of physical violence.”
“The security of civilians in post-
conflict environments is critical to
the legitimacy and credibility of UN
peacekeeping missions, the peace
agreements they are deployed to
help implement and the institution
of the United Nations itself,” ac-
cording to the report.
“Yet the UN Secretariat, troop- and
police-contributing countries, host
states, humanitarian actors, human
rights professionals and the missions
themselves continue to struggle over
what it means for a peacekeeping
operation to protect civilians, in
definition and in practice.”
The “chain of events” to sup-
port protection of civilians, from
the earliest planning, to Security
Council mandates, to implementa-
tion by peacekeeping missions—
“is broken,” the report states.
The Security Council has established
a normative framework for protec-
tion of civilians, however, “there is
recognition that this process has
25
 not been matched by a correspond-
ing improvement in actual situa-
tions where civilians are affected by
conflict,” noted the New York NGO
Security Council Report.
This dilemma became all the more
relevant when the UN mission in
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUC) came under fire
from NGOs and the media in 2009
after the Congolese armed forces
(FARDC) were accused of attacks on
civilians. In addition to protecting
civilians, MONUC is mandated with
supporting the national army.
After an open debate on the pro-
tection of civilians issue on 11
November, the Security Council
adopted a lengthy resolution (UN-
SCR 1894) demanding that parties
to a conflict comply with interna-
tional obligations to protect civil-
ians. The resolution also asked the
Secretary-General to ensure that all
peacekeeping missions with pro-
tection mandates conduct planning
UN Peacekeeper with Sudanese refugee children, Oure Cassoni camp,
Chad. 16 October 2009. (UN Photo by Olivia Grey Pritchard)
26
and training on the protection of
civilians, and that troop-contribut-
ing countries do the same.
Addressing the meeting, Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon said that the
Security Council deliberations and
decisions on the protection of ci-
vilians “have raised global aware-
ness and advanced what is, after
all, a key part of this Organiza-
tion’s cardinal mission: saving and
protecting people from the horrors
of armed conflict.”
He laid out five “core challenges”
for the UN in better protecting ci-
vilians during conflict:
• T he Security Council must
strengthen compliance by all
parties to a conflict with inter-
national law.
• T he UN needs more consistent
engagement with non-state
armed groups in order to ensure
compliance.
• Peacekeeping missions must
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
discharge their protection man-
dates more effectively.
• H
 umanitarian actors must have
better and safer access to civil-
ians in need.
• T he UN must enhance account-
ability for individuals who vio-
late humanitarian laws.
During the debate, some Member
States who are also troop-contrib-
uting-countries called for realistic
mandates that clearly delineate
the roles and responsibilities of
peacekeepers in protecting civil-
ians. Other countries stressed—
as did resolution 1894—that the
host government bears primary
responsibility for its protection
of its citizens. Several countries
insisted that sufficient resources
must be committed to match such
mandates.
DPKO and DFS began work in 2009
on an “operational concept” for the
protection of civilians in UN peace-
keeping operations, which will be-
come the basis for official policy.
The Security Council also charged
peacekeeping missions with ad-
dressing sexual violence against ci-
vilians in armed conflict. In 2008,
with resolution 1820, the Council
had tasked DPKO with collect-
ing evidence of the prevalence of
Peacekeeping in Africa >>
MONUC — A watershed year for the protection
of civilians
For the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, 2009 marked the tenth year
of the deployment of the United
Nations peacekeeping operation
there (MONUC) and a turning point
that ushered in opportunities for
peace that were unforeseeable a
year earlier.
Armed conflict between the Con-
grès national pour la défense du
peuple (CNDP), Congolese Govern-
ment forces (FARDC) and dozens of
other armed groups sowed chaos
in the eastern DRC for most of the
previous year despite peace agree-
ments reached at a conference in
Goma in January of 2008. Imple-
mentation of the 2007 Nairobi
Communiqué between the DRC and
Rwanda on eliminating the threat
of the Forces démocratiques de
libération du Rwanda (FDLR), had
all but stalled. And on another
eastern front, attempts to end vio-
lence by the rebels of the Ugan-
dan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)
remained unfulfilled.
However, by early 2009, relations
between the DRC and its eastern
neighbours were on the mend.
New accords were reached in March
between the DRC government and
armed groups to end the CNDP re-
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
sexual violence in countries on the
agenda of the Council. With resolu-
tion 1888 of 30 September 2009,
the Council affirmed that “effective
steps to prevent and respond to …
acts of sexual violence can signifi-
cantly contribute to the mainte-
nance of international peace and
bellion and integrate some 20,000
combatants into the ranks of the
FARDC and National Police. The
FDLR, which the Security Council
characterized as one of the prin-
cipal causes of armed conflict in
the region, remained the principal
armed obstruction to Congolese
state authority in the eastern prov-
inces of North and South Kivu.
Remarkable diplomacy
This new horizon was opened by
bilateral diplomacy and political
decisions at the highest levels in
Kinshasa, Kigali and Kampala, to
mend fences and increase coopera-
tion, especially in dealing with re-
gional threats to security. Political
efforts by two international facili-
tators, former Presidents Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria and Benjamin
Mkapa of Tanzania, appointed
by the UN Secretary-General and
the African Union, respectively,
helped maintain the momentum
of talks, both internationally and
among Congolese parties. In De-
cember 2008, the DRC and Ugan-
da launched Operation Lightning
Thunder, a joint military operation
on Congolese soil, in coordination
with forces in southern Sudan, in
pursuit of the LRA. Shortly after-
security….” The Council expressed
its intention to ensure that reso-
lutions establishing or renewing
peacekeeping mandates contain
provisions on the prevention of and
response to sexual violence, includ-
ing the appointment of women’s
protection advisers. 
wards, the DRC and Rwanda’s also
launched Umoja Wetu (Our Unity)
against the FDLR. Subsequently,
after many years, the neighbouring
states of this troubled region fully
restored diplomatic relations and
made initial steps towards reviving
regional economic cooperation.
As mandated by the Security Coun-
cil, MONUC continued to protect
civilians under threat of imminent
violence and to assist DRC Govern-
ment armed forces in their struggle
against foreign armed groups, no-
tably the FDLR and LRA, as well as
home-grown militias.
Outrage over attacks on civilians
A joint operational directive be-
tween the military commands of
MONUC and the FARDC set out
the terms of cooperation between
them in taking on the FDLR in a
campaign dubbed Kimia II. The
campaign, launched in North and
South Kivu, seriously disrupted the
FDLR and its command over some
6,000 militia. In April 2009, Alan
Doss—the Special Representa-
tive of the Secretary-General and
Chief of Mission—told the Security
Council that it would be impossible
to end the FDLR’s control over large
27

parts of both Kivus without any
humanitarian consequences. In ef-
fect, military operations cost civil-
ians dearly in remote, undefended
areas. FDLR forces torched villages,
targeted local authorities and tra-
ditional chiefs and displaced thou-
sands of families. Accurate num-
bers are difficult to obtain, but at
least several hundred civilians were
killed, and appalling levels of sexu-
al violence were inflicted on wom-
en and girls. These reprisals, linked
to Kimia II operations and MO-
NUC’s mandate to support joint op-
erations with the FARDC, outraged
many in the international commu-
nity and subjected the mission to
sharp criticism from humanitarians
and intense scrutiny in the inter-
national press. Some of the harsh-
est critiques were prompted by the
fact that elements within the Gov-
28
ernment’s own forces also engaged
in attacks on civilians.
Undisciplined behaviour among
some FARDC units was closely re-
lated to the fast-track integra-
tion of former militias, including
the CNDP, into the security forces.
Many former combatants and offi-
cers have records of serious human
rights violations. Violence and al-
legations of abuses, particularly
by some newly integrated CNDP
troops against civilians, under-
mined civilian confidence in the
FARDC and heightened ethnic ten-
sions in some areas. Integration
of these groups was nonetheless
an essential element in arrange-
ments to end internal rebellion
within the DRC and to underpin
the rapprochement between Ki-
gali and Kinshasa. Corruption and
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
Indian peacekeepers from MONUC’s North Kivu
Brigade escort people at risk of attack by the
Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda
(FDLR) to market in the Kibua Walikale area in
North Kivu, DR Congo. 14 August 2009.
(UN Photo by Sylvie van den Wildenberg)
delays in the payment of soldiers’
salaries contributed to indiscipline
and abuses, as army units effec-
tively lived off the land and those
they were supposed to protect.
As this publication went to press,
the integration process was not
moving ahead as quickly as hoped.
The CNDP facing internal divisions,
while some former CNDP com-
batants threatened to leave the
FARDC. The FARDC itself continued
to suffer from weak command and
control, and capacity for delivering
military justice was sorely lacking.
Government responses
Monitoring from the field showed
that in places where MONUC was
visible, where government troops
were paid on time and where food
rations were available, there were
 fewer discipline problems within
FARDC ranks. Successive reports of
the Secretary-General drew sharp at-
tention to the deficiencies, and the
worldwide outcry about sexual vio-
lence also appeared to have some
positive effect. President Joseph
Kabila declared “zero tolerance”
for acts of sexual and gender-based
violence, and the Government be-
gan to take action against looting,
corruption and other undisciplined
behaviour by army personnel. An
FARDC military court established
for the Kivus initiated more than 30
prosecutions, finding soldiers guilty
of human rights violations. Several
high-level commanders were re-
lieved of command for misconduct,
including corruption. The Govern-
ment also removed from command
five officers whose records of abuse
had been brought to its attention
by the UN. But Congolese and
international NGOs continued to
press the Government and MONUC
to act against other presumed of-
A South African peacekeeper carries
an injured child to a MONUC helicop-
ter in eastern Congo for evacuation
and further treatment, Busurungi, DR
Congo. 15 May 2009. (UN Photo by
Marie Frechon)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
fenders who had entered the ranks
of the FARDC.
SRSG Doss pressed the DRC and
its partners to beef up support for
proper training to develop a disci-
plined army capable of protecting
the DRC’s people and its borders.
He made clear to Government
leaders that MONUC would with-
hold support from army battalions
that showed a blatant disregard
for international humanitarian
law. He also highlighted the need
for security forces capable of es-
tablishing state authority over the
natural resources that sustain and
arm illegal armed groups through
illicit sales of minerals, metals
and forest resources.
Reinforcing civilian protection
MONUC’s mandate and operational
strategies give priority to the pro-
tection of civilians. However, the
Special Representative told the
Security Council in October that
it would never be possible for the
UN and its 12,000 peacekeepers
deployed in the east to provide
blanket protection for civilians
throughout the eastern Congo—
a region the size of France, Spain
and Germany combined. He noted,
nevertheless, that hundreds of
thousands of people were protect-
ed daily and received direct assis-
tance through MONUC patrols and
humanitarian convoys escorted by
UN peacekeepers.
MONUC’s strength grew over 2009,
with the arrival of some 2,500 of
the additional 3,000 uniformed
personnel approved by the Council
for MONUC’s expansion in 2008.
But only three of the 18 additional
helicopters promised were deliv-
ered. MONUC closed the year with
95 percent of its troop strength of
19,670 and 80 percent of its inter-
national civilian personnel (more
than 1,000 international civilian
29
 staff plus 628 UN Volunteers) de-
ployed in eastern DRC. Some 400
international police and more than
1,000 members of formed police
units are also on the ground.
Stretching resources to meet
challenges
Limited resources led MONUC to
innovate in its quest for improved
protection. Military and civilian
peacekeepers were deployed to ex-
tremely remote and isolated areas
to get as close as possible to the
people. These deployments meant
better deterrence, earlier warn-
ings and quicker reaction in mo-
ments of crisis. Initiatives ranged
from day patrols escorting women
villagers to market, to night pa-
trols in high-risk zones, and the
distribution of mobile phones pre-
loaded with emergency contacts
so community leaders could call
MONUC in emergencies.
MONUC also continued to safeguard
key surface routes, ensuring hu-
manitarian access to populations
affected by conflict, and providing
escorts to UN agencies as well as
NGOs who sought such assistance.
The tempo of operations was unre-
lenting. MONUC forces established
dozens of mobile operating bases
in “hot spots”, with the flexibility
to move as security demanded. It
deployed Joint Protection Teams
(JPTs) in sensitive areas to help
the military and local authorities
analyze, anticipate, and respond to
specific threats. JPTs comprise ci-
vilian experts in human rights, child
protection, civil and political af-
fairs and other fields. They enabled
the mission to better understand
the needs of local communities so
(*) D
 DRRR: Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement
(**) I CTR: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
30
that field commanders could bet-
ter direct and position their forces.
More than 50 JPT missions were
launched during the year, most in
North and South Kivu, as well as in
Province Orientale.
Anticipating problems
A rapid response and early warn-
ing cell assembled and analyzed
information gathered from mul-
tiple sources at ground level to
help guide deployments by as-
sessing areas of vulnerability,
identifying threat patterns and
recording the performance of in-
dividual battalions of the FARDC.
Close monitoring helped MONUC
to identify those who violated
the rights of civilians and to en-
courage Congo’s military leaders
to take corrective measures.
Outcomes
As the year drew to a close, prog-
ress was evident on a number of
fronts:
• F ARDC operations in the Kivus
and in Orientale province had
significantly eroded the strike
capacity and domination of the
FDLR and the LRA.
• S ome 1,500 FDLR combatants
had been repatriated by the
DDRRR (*) team - more than
double the repatriation rate for
the same period in 2008. An ad-
ditional 11,383 Rwandan civil-
ians, many of whom had been
virtually held hostage by the
FDLR, returned to Rwanda with
the assistance of UNHCR.
• T wo major figures wanted by
the ICTR (**) for their in-
volvement in the 1994 Rwanda
genocide were arrested in the
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
DRC and Uganda and trans-
ferred to Arusha.
• Most of the IDPs who had been
regrouped in camps at the out-
skirts of Goma as a result of
the earlier conflict with the
CNDP returned home, although
a very high number of displaced
people in North and South Kivu
were waiting for further im-
provements in the security situ-
ation before going back to their
villages.
• M
 ore than 2,000 children were
separated from armed groups.
• T he integration of the CNDP and
other Congolese armed groups
was approaching completion.
More than 120 political pris-
oners had been released and
returned to the East with MO-
NUC’s assistance.
• A
 UN-supported stabilization
programme was moving into
areas freed from the control of
armed groups and opening the
way for the return of state au-
thority.
The SRSG told representatives of
troop-contributing countries in Oc-
tober that if the MONUC reinforce-
ment was successful, and major
military operations against foreign
armed groups could be concluded
in 2010, MONUC could begin a
phased troop drawdown, conso-
nant with the security situation on
the ground. On 23 December, the
Security Council authorized a five-
month extension of MONUC’s man-
date, through 31 May 2010. Resolu-
tion 1906 kept the strength of the
force at its current level of 21,000
troops and police. 
 The long journey to sustain peace
in Darfur
UNAMID civil affairs officers meet
with a group of internally displaced
persons in the Abu-Shouk Camp
in northern Darfur, Sudan, to hear
about the security and health situa-
tion in the camp. 3 February 2009.
(UN Photo by Olivier Chassot)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
The African Union–United
Nations Hybrid Operation in
Darfur (UNAMID) encoun-
tered successes, obstacles
and tragedy as it closed out
its second year amid a deli-
cate peace.
The peacekeeping mission,
the UN’s costliest and the
second largest in person-
nel, is tasked with helping
to bring peace to Darfur,
a region of western Sudan
roughly the size of France,
which has endured one of the
world’s worst humanitarian
crises in recent years.
Despite enormous challenges,
UNAMID could count several
achievements in 2009. These
included encouraging greater
dialogue between local Suda-
nese authorities and internally
displaced persons (IDPs), pro-
viding round-the-clock secu-
rity patrols at IDP camps, and
contributing to a substantial
reduction in the levels of vio-
lence and in the numbers of
those affected by violence.
These developments were
brought about by an in-
creased deployment of mili-
tary personnel and assets, as
well as significant improve-
ments to the logistical sup-
ply chain. In a major initia-
tive to unblock the supply
routes from Khartoum to El
Fasher, UNAMID managed to
reduce the journey for supply
convoys from Port Sudan to El
Fasher from 11 days to four,
largely due to increased co-
operation with the Sudanese
police who provided escorts in
areas outside of Darfur where
the mission is not mandated to
operate. In addition to more
timely delivery of supplies,
the mission received vehicles
that were utilized to deliver
water to the local population
and building materials that
enabled the construction of
facilities for the mission and
the people of Darfur alike.
Other UNAMID initiatives in-
cluded enhancement of the ca-
pacity of the Government and
police to address human rights
violations and inadequacies in
the local judicial services, as
well as the establishment of a
UNAMID gender crimes special
investigation unit to monitor
and report on investigations
of crimes committed against
women and children. The
mission also provided logis-
tical support to programmes
31
 for children who had been associ-
ated with military activities, and
funded more than 30 quick impact
projects in agriculture, education,
health, water and sanitation and
women’s empowerment.
However, throughout the year,
the mission was sorely tested by
the challenges of an ever-volatile
security situation and the vaga-
ries of a complex and difficult po-
litical process.
Kidnappings and confrontations,
tribal clashes, banditry and attacks
against its peacekeepers made it in-
creasingly difficult for the mission
to conduct its work. In the western
town of Zalingei, two UNAMID in-
ternational civilians were abducted
from their accommodation in Au-
gust and were released on 13 De-
cember after 100 days in captivity.
UNAMID lost nine peacekeepers to
hostile actions in 2009, bringing
the total number of peacekeepers
who died as a result of violence
since the mission’s start two years
ago to 22. More than 100 UN ve-
hicles were lost to carjackings.
The humanitarian obstacles UNAMID
confronted in 2009 worsened fol-
lowing the 4 March decision by the
International Criminal Court (ICC)
to indict President Omar Hassan
Al-Bashir and three other Suda-
nese. Sudan retaliated immedi-
ately by expelling 13 international
NGOs from the country and shut-
ting down many national NGOs.
This led to UNAMID, UN agencies
and other partners spending much
of the year trying to fill the gaps
in the delivery of humanitarian
services.
On the political front, the year
started on a promising note as
the Government of National Unity
(GoNU) and the Justice and Equal-
ity Movement (JEM) agreed to AU/
UN mediated talks in Doha, Qatar.
On 17 February, the parties reached
an ‘Agreement of Good Will and
Confidence Building for the Settle-
ment of the Problem in Darfur’. Re-
grettably, the Agreement was not
fully implemented by the parties.
In mid-November, the AU-UN me-
diation made notable progress by
bringing together a diverse group
of Darfur civil society in Doha to
arrive at a consensus on critical is-
sues such as security arrangements,
wealth-sharing and power-sharing.
While the Sudan Liberation Army/
Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) and other
factions remained outside the
talks throughout the year, efforts
continued to have them agree
upon a common platform in an-
ticipation of joining the GoNU/

UNAMID peacekeepers from Rwanda patrol in North Darfur,

Sudan. 12 October 2009. (UN Photo by Olivier Chassot )

32 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

JEM talks. The Government of
Libya and the US Special Envoy to
Sudan complemented these efforts
by working to reunify some of the
smaller movements. The AU High
Level Panel on Darfur, headed by
former South African President
Thabo Mbeki, also made a signifi-
cant contribution to international
efforts to find a solution to the
crisis in Darfur.
On Chad-Sudan relations, the war
of words, as well as the territorial
violations that marked the start of
the year, ebbed after the two coun-
tries agreed to a cessation of vio-
lence on 4 May. This undertaking
was reinforced by an official visit
to Chad on 10 October by President
Bashir’s advisor on Darfur, follow-
ing which the Chadian armed op-
position groups moved some 200
kilometres away from the Chadian
border into Sudan. There were
also fewer military offences by JEM
against Sudanese forces as the year
came to a close.
UNMIS tackles a rough year in Southern Sudan
During an unusually violent and
politically unstable year in south-
ern Sudan, the United Nations
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) under-
took a new, proactive approach to
peacekeeping, which enabled fur-
ther progress towards implemen-
tation of the 2005 Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA).
UNMIS helped launch the much-
awaited Sudan Disarmament, De-
mobilization and Reintegration
(DDR) programme in 2009 and
moved quickly to defuse tensions
in the aftermath of violent clashes
in several hotspots in the southern
region of the country.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
Preparations for the April 2010
general elections to be held across
Sudan began slowly, and logistical
constraints prompted the extension
of the voter registration period. In
Darfur, the SLA-AW and JEM boy-
cotted voter registration and called
on their supporters in IDP camps
to do the same, but did not direct
major violence or attacks at the ex-
ercise. The UN lent some logistical
support to the process, which by
early December resulted in the reg-
istration of approximately 65 per
cent of the national population.
By the close of 2009, significant
gains had been made in the deploy-
ment of UNAMID’s military person-
nel. The mission’s total strength of
15,370, representing 53 countries,
grew by 35 percent over the previ-
ous year and moved close to the
authorized strength of 19,555.
UNAMID police and formed police
units, tasked mainly with protect-
ing the civilian population and
IDPs, also increased in numbers,
As inter-tribal turmoil escalated in
southern Sudan, the mission imple-
mented a stabilization programme
in Jonglei State that sharply cur-
tailed fighting in one of the most
turbulent corners of the country.
UNMIS achieved significant head-
way in its support of crucial mile-
stones of the CPA, such as voter
registration, police training, child
protection, and on the issue of the
disputed boundaries of the oil-rich
area of Abyei.
The first signs of what proved to be
the most violent year in southern
Sudan since the signing of the CPA
erupted during celebrations mark-
with the force rising to 4,574, rep-
resenting more than 40 countries,
and nearly 75 percent of its autho-
rized strength.
While the expansion of both the
military and police personnel was
encouraging, the military contin-
ued to lack aviation assets. The lack
of these critical enablers seriously
affects the force’s capabilities, and
thus its ability to fully discharge
its mandate. The United Nations
is hopeful that in 2010 these as-
sets, which include 18 utility and
five tactical helicopters, two sur-
veillance aircraft and two heavy
transport units, will be provided by
Member States.
The challenges UNAMID faces on all
fronts—political, security, human-
itarian and logistical—are not in-
surmountable. Success will require
a collaborative effort between UN-
AMID, the Member States support-
ing it, the parties to the conflict and
the local communities of Darfur. 
ing the accord’s fourth anniversary
in the Upper Nile State capital of
Malakal. Fighting between Dinka
and Shilluk tribesmen on 9 Janu-
ary triggered clashes that killed 12
people and displaced an estimated
6,000 residents.
UNMIS responded swiftly to the
next outbreak of violence in the
city in late February. The unexpect-
ed arrival in Malakal of former mi-
litia commander Gabriel Tangyangi
on 24 February triggered deadly
clashes between elements of the
Joint Integrated Unit (JIU) be-
longing to the Sudan Armed Forces
and the Sudan People’s Liberation
33
 Army (SPLA). The violence that
left at least 62 people dead and 94
wounded was quickly ended after
UNMIS aircraft flew Vice President
Riek Machar of the Government of
Southern Sudan (GoSS) to Malakal
to negotiate a ceasefire. The Cease-
fire Joint Military Commission
chaired by the UNMIS Force Com-
mander worked closely with the
State Security Committee to disen-
gage the warring elements.
The mission reacted quickly again
when serious unrest occurred fol-
lowing an attack by Murle tribes-
men against a fishing camp inhab-
ited by Lou Nuer villagers in the
Jonglei State county of Akobo on 2
August. The raid killed 161 people,
most of whom were women and
children, and UNMIS subsequently
airlifted 160 SPLA soldiers to the
stricken area to stabilize security
on the ground.
The mission rendered a similar
service after soldiers guarding the
compound of SPLA deputy com-
mander-in-chief Lt. Gen. Paulino
Matip in the Unity State capital
of Bentiu exchanged gunfire with
other SPLA soldiers stationed at
the local governor’s headquarters
on 2 October. An estimated 300
troops assigned to Matip’s com-
pound fled the city after the fight-
ing subsided, and UNMIS aircraft
later ferried those soldiers to Juba
for re-deployment to the SPLA unit
assigned to protect GoSS President
Salva Kiir Mayardit.
Perhaps the most ambitious in-
stance of pro-active peacekeeping
began in Jonglei State with the es-
tablishment of two UNMIS tempo-
rary operating bases in the flash-

A female former combatant hands over her weapon at the launch of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
(DDR) programme sponsored by UNMIS in Ed Damazin, Sudan. 5 May 2009. (UN Photo by Johann Hattingh)

34 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

points of Akobo and Pibor counties
on 10 May. Each base was staffed
with some 120 soldiers, and robust
air and river patrols were conducted
throughout the area for 60 days.
County officials and the state gov-
ernor later expressed their gratitude
to the mission for having brought
residents a welcome respite from
the wave of violence plaguing their
region since early March.
The Sudan DDR programme was
launched in the Blue Nile State
capital of Ed Damezin on 10 Feb-
ruary, and reintegration com-
menced six weeks later. Similar
programmes were later unveiled
in the states of Southern Kordo-
fan, Central Equatoria and Lakes,
and as of 31 August over 12,000
ex-combatants had been demobi-
lized across the country. Another
DDR programme was to kick off in
the Northern Bahr El Ghazal state
capital of Aweil in December.
In the lead-up to the elections in
April 2010, the mission’s electoral
assistance division (EAD) provided
technical help and logistical sup-
port to the National Elections Com-
mission (NEC), the Southern Sudan
High Committee and the 25 state-
level high committees. The EAD
played a vital support role in the
run-up to the voter registration
process, which began in nearly all
state capitals across the country
on 1 November.
In one of the few positive devel-
opments on the political front in
2009, the National Congress Par-
ty (NCP) and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM) ac-
cepted the 22 July ruling by the
Permanent Court of Arbitration in
The Hague on the Abyei boundary
dispute. A boundary demarcation
committee was then appointed,
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
but its work has proceeded ex-
tremely slowly.
The annual Misseriya migration
into disputed areas inhabited by
Dinka Ngok communities went off
relatively peacefully. UNMIS sup-
ported the convening of meetings
among Dinka Ngok, Misseriya lead-
ers and government officials in the
aftermath of the arbitration court’s
ruling on Abyei.
Marauding bands of gunmen belong-
ing to the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA) continued to terrorize commu-
nities living near southern Sudan’s
border with the Democratic Republic
of the Congo and the Central African
Republic. At least 200 people were
killed and another 130 kidnapped
during LRA attacks in Western and
Central Equatoria states during the
first nine months of the year, with
tens of thousands of southern Suda-
nese displaced by these raids. How-
ever, the scale and frequency of LRA
attacks declined as the year proceed-
ed, and its gunmen broke into small,
isolated groups with little ability to
mount serious raids deep inside Su-
danese territory.
As well as rising tensions between
the country’s two leading political
parties, the Sudanese political cal-
endar was impacted by the arrest
warrant against President Omar al-
Bashir issued by the International
Criminal Court on 4 March. The
Sudanese Government responded
by expelling 13 international non-
governmental organizations (NGOs)
from the Darfur region and shutting
down three local NGOs.
The SPLM and GoSS President Kiir
publicly rejected the official results
of the 2008 national census on the
grounds that residents in the 10
southern states had been under-
counted, while population figures
for the three Darfur states were al-
legedly inflated.
Continued bickering between the
NCP and SPLM stalled efforts in the
National Assembly to approve en-
abling legislation for the southern
Sudan and Abyei referenda, slated
for January 2011.
In an effort to prompt CPA partners
to consider various post-referenda
scenarios that they might have
to deal with in order to ensure a
peaceful implementation of the
agreement, UNMIS held a major
symposium on “Unity and Pros-
pects of Self- Determination” in
November. Sudanese political play-
ers, intelligentsia and members of
the general public engaged in a
lively debate over the future of the
country post-2011.
Against this difficult background
of political wrangling and the chal-
lenges of timelines, mishaps and
regional instabilities, UNMIS con-
tinued to press on with its man-
date within its capabilities. The
mission cleared and reopened the
Sobat river waterway after a tribal
attack sank 120 barges, closing
the only lifeline between Nasir and
Acobo. It deployed aerial patrols
after the clashes in Yambio, Bin-
tue and Awiel, supported JIUs in
the Abyei area, managed tensions
between the Dinka and Misseriya,
and provided training on elections
security to police in both northern
and southern Sudan, to mention
just a few activities.
UNMIS was also affected by trag-
edy in 2009 when its Deputy Force
Commander, Brigadier Moin-Ud-Din
Ahmed, was assassinated while on
leave in his home country of Paki-
stan. A memorial service was held
at UNMIS HQ in his honour. 
35
Officers of the United Nations Police and Chad’s Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS) interview Sudanese refugees in
their camp, Farchana, Chad. 24 February 2009. (UN Photo by Olivia Grey Pritchard)
A year of transition for MINURCAT
In 2009, the United Nations Mis-
sion in the Central African Repub-
lic and Chad (MINURCAT) added
a large military component to its
peacekeeping operation as it as-
sumed responsibility from the Eu-
ropean Union force (EUFOR) on 15
March 2009. In January, the Se-
curity Council adopted resolution
1861 authorizing the deployment
of 5,200 troops to the troubled area
and tasked the mission with help-
ing to create conditions conducive
to a voluntary, secure and sustain-
able return of refugees (263,000
from neighbouring Darfur, Sudan)
and 180,000 internally displaced
persons (IDPs) currently encamped
in eastern Chad.
In mid-January 2009, clashes be-
tween rebel factions and the Gov-
ernment of the Central African Re-
public resulted in a new influx of
36
refugees from northeastern Central
African Republic into the Salamat
region of Chad. UNHCR estimates
that approximately 16,000 new
refugees arrived, bringing the total
number of refugees receiving hu-
manitarian aid in Chad to approxi-
mately 320,000.
At one minute before midnight on
14 March 2009, Force Commander
Major-General Elhadji Mouhame-
dou Kandji (Senegal) assumed
operational control of the United
Nations force of 2,085 troops. The
force comprised 1,877 troops re-
hatted from eight EUFOR contribu-
tors (Albania, Austria, Croatia, Ire-
land, Finland, France, Poland and
Russia), 140 troops from two new
contributors (Ghana and Togo),
and 68 new force headquarters
staff officers from various coun-
tries. By year’s end, the MINURCAT
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
force had welcomed troops from
Nepal, Cambodia and Mongolia, as
well as a state-of–the-art level II
deployable hospital and staff from
Norway. Challenges still remain for
the MINURCAT force to attain its
full authorized strength and fulfil
its security mandate.
At the beginning of the year, the
mission successfully focused on
the deployment of the special
Chadian security force, the Dé-
tachement Intégré de Sécurité
(DIS), to maintain law and order in
refugee camps, IDP sites and sur-
rounding towns. The 820 men and
women of the DIS are now working
throughout the mission area in 20
locations in camps, IDP sites and
towns in eastern Chad. More than
248 United Nations police officers
from 20 countries, including 26
women, mentored, monitored and
advised the DIS. The international
police officers supported the DIS in
policing refugee camps in eastern
Chad and conducted motorized and
foot patrols around key towns in
eastern Chad. MINURCAT also as-
sisted the recruitment by the Chad-
ian national police of 250 female
officers in order to improve the
gender balance of the force.
At the year’s end, the DIS had
conducted more than 3,600 pa-
trols and 1,400 security escorts,
primarily benefiting humanitarian
actors. It had arrested more than
300 individuals involved in vari-
ous crimes and offences, and con-
fiscated weapons and recovering
vehicles stolen from UN agencies
and non-governmental organiza-
tions. DIS also recorded several
cases of infiltration of armed in-
dividuals into refugee camps and
has sought to contain this threat
by placing security checkpoints
around the camps.
UN experts also provided support
to the functioning of courts in
eastern Chad. In July, the Criminal
Court of Abéché, with the support
of MINURCAT, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)
and UNHCR, completed a six-week
circuit session that dealt with 42
Supporting peace operations in Somalia
The newest addition to field op-
erations in 2009 was the UN Sup-
port Office for AMISOM (African
Union Mission in Somalia). UNSOA
is a unique operation in that it
is removed from the theatre, and
headquartered in Kenya within the
United Nations complex in Nairobi
(UNON), with a forward support
base in Mombasa. The Nairobi loca-
tion puts UNSOA in close proximity
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
criminal cases. A total of 107 ac-
cused persons were put on trial,
represented by defence coun-
sel, with sentences ranging from
five years to life imprisonment.
MINURCAT also provided techni-
cal support to the mobile court
hearings in Goz Beïda and Farch-
ana, including the preparation of
court documents. During July and
August, court facilities in Iriba
and Goz Beïda were rehabilitated
and equipped with MINURCAT and
UNDP support. In order to improve
prison infrastructure, MINURCAT
implemented projects to bolster
security and the living conditions
of female inmates in Abéché Prison
and the reconstruction of the Iriba
detention facility.
MINURCAT launched sensitization
campaigns on female genital mu-
tilation, sexual and gender-based
violence and forced marriage, tar-
geting internally displaced persons
and refugee communities, as well
as local authorities. The gendar-
merie initiated criminal investi-
gations in three rape cases after
DIS arrested the perpetrators and
transferred them to the justice of
the peace.
MINURCAT, UNICEF, UNHCR and
UNDP conducted joint verification
to AMISOM Mission headquarters,
the United Nations Political Office
for Somalia (UNPOS) and the UN
country team—all in Nairobi.
During the year, UN staff made
trips to Mogadishu to work directly
with AMISOM, Somalia’s Transition-
al Federal Government and other
partners on the ground in Soma-
lia. However, Mogadishu remained
visits in refugee camps and inter-
nally displaced person sites to sup-
port Government efforts to eradi-
cate the recruitment of children by
armed groups.
MINURCAT also supported local
reconciliation and intercommu-
nity dialogue in eastern Chad. In
much of the east, underlying trib-
al tensions and disputes between
farmers and nomadic herders, trig-
gered by competition for scarce
resources, have intensified in re-
cent years with the displacement
of communities and prevalence of
weapons. Initiatives aimed at in-
tercommunity dialogue have seen
the creation of conflict preven-
tion committees and reconcilia-
tion ceremonies in various areas
of eastern Chad previously mired
by ethnic conflict.
While 2009 was a year of transition
for the newest UN peacekeeping
operation, the coming year should
be marked by the consolidation of
its presence throughout the area
of operations. Preparations con-
tinue in earnest to accommodate
the remaining incoming troops
and civilians needed to achieve
the security objectives set out by
the Security Council. 
at security level 5 for the United
Nations (meaning no international
staff can live or work there).
Violence continued to wrack the
city, and on 17 September, Al-
Shabaab insurgents driving UN-
marked vehicles attacked the
AMISOM force headquarters and a
Dyncorps office, killing 21 people
including four Somali civilians
37
 and five Ugandan and 12 Burun-
dian peacekeepers Progress towards peace
Overseen by the Department of
Field Support, UNSOA is mandated in Somalia
by Security Council resolution 1863
Somalia continued to dominate including an attempted coup
(2009) to deliver a support package
world headlines – mostly for neg- d’etat by insurgents in May and
to AMISOM similar to that of a tra-
ative reasons connected with pi- two deadly attacks carried out by
ditional UN peacekeeping mission.
racy and violence. But there has suicide bombers in February and
There are currently just over 5,000
been positive progress illustrated September, killing Burundian and
troops from Burundi and Uganda in
by the fact that just nine months Ugandan peacekeepers as well as
AMISOM, and discussions are under
after being elected President of Somali officials. With the sup-
way with other African Union mem-
Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh port of the African Union Mis-
ber states to send troops to reach
Ahmed addressed world leaders sion in Somalia (AMISOM), the
the mandated strength of 8,000.
at 64th Session of the United Transitional Federal Government
UNSOA’s logistical support is an ele-
Nations General Assembly in Sep- (TFG) managed to hold strategic
ment of the UN’s three-phase plan in
tember 2009 to lay out the prior- positions and government instal-
Somalia – to strengthen the Transi-
ity needs of his country. lations in Mogadishu. These inci-
tional Federal Government’s security
dents, however, exposed the dire
sector, to create a “light footprint”
His election to the presidency on need for strengthened security
for the UN, and when conditions al-
30 January 2009 was part of the forces and both increased and ac-
low, to transition from AMISOM to a
implementation of Article 9 of the celerated international assistance
UN peacekeeping operation, pend-
Djibouti Peace Agreement, which to the Government and AMISOM.
ing Security Council approval.
laid out the framework for political
cooperation. The agreement includ- The Special Representative of
In June, UNSOA delivered the first
ed an amended transitional federal the Secretary-General, Ahmedou
of multiple support package ship-
charter, which led to an enlarged Ould-Abdallah, who was leading
ments to Mogadishu, including
Parliament of 550 members with the UN Political Office for So-
fresh food and rations, medicine
greater participation from groups malia (UNPOS) in consolidating
and medical equipment, and an
not previously represented. By the the peace process, advocated
airport fire and rescue truck. Plans
end of February, with the appoint- for stronger diplomatic support
were under way for the construction
ment of Prime Minister Omar Shar- and increased financial backing
of new sanitation and kitchen facil-
marke, a new Government consist- from regional governments and
ities. In addition, UNSOA provided
ing of 37 ministers was put in place the international community to
AMISOM with training in medical
and relocated for the first time in strengthen security.
response, movement control, prop-
some years to Mogadishu.
erty management, engineering and
In April, donors pledged more
strategic communication.
The installation of the new Govern- than $200 million at a United
ment, together with the withdrawal Nations-European Union spon-
In 2010, UNSOA and AMISOM plan
of the Ethiopian forces in mid-Jan- sored conference in Brussels for
to launch a radio station for Moga-
uary—reconciliation measures laid the support of Somali security
dishu with production in Kenya.
out in the Djibouti Agreement— institutions and AMISOM. As of
UNSOA has contracted with a pri-
were positive indicators for the di- late 2009, more than two-thirds
vate communications company to
rection of the peace process. of pledges had been collected.
help implement the radio project
In a move towards strengthening
as part of an outreach package for
The Government, however, faced transparency and accountability,
Somalis in and outside the country.
numerous challenges throughout the TFG signed an agreement with
A mix of news and traditional So-
the year as well as threats from the international accounting firm
mali music, the station is expected
Somali extremists, mainly Al PricewaterhouseCoopers to help
to be Somali-owned and operated
Shabab and Hisbu’l Islam, aided monitor the incoming funds and
in the long-term, and to contribute
and abetted by foreign fighters, to build financial capacity. En-
to the country’s peace process. 

38 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

couraging support for the TFG also
came in early August when US Sec-
retary of State, Hillary Clinton, in a
meeting with President Sharif, re-
affirmed the United States’ support
for the Somali government.
Implementation of the peace pro-
cess gained further momentum in
August with a conference on “Ad-
dressing Impunity: Towards Justice
and Reconciliation,” facilitated by
UNPOS under Article 9 of the Dji-
bouti Agreement on Justice and
Reconciliation. The two-day confer-
ence, which sought ways to move
forward on addressing impunity, in-
Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral process moves ahead
The motorboats that crisscrossed
the scenic lagoons around Grand
Lahou, some 150 kilometres west
of Abidjan, in mid-2009 bore a
cargo of no mean importance to
Côte d’Ivoire’s peace process. They
carried computers and other equip-
ment to localities accessible only
by water for use in a population
identification and voter registra-
tion operation, part of prepara-
tions for the long-awaited national
elections. Elsewhere, helicopters
and land vehicles—contributed,
like the boats, by the UN Operation
in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI)—were
used to take the precious supplies
to far-flung villages as part of the
mission’s “Operation Transport.”
Operation Transport is emblematic
of the support the UN has provided
to the electoral process in Côte
d’Ivoire, a key element on the road
to peace for the West African na-
tion of some 18 million people. The
international community is provid-
ing approximately 21 billion CFA
francs (about $46.6 million) of the
36 billion CFA (about $80 million]
budgeted for the electoral process,
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
cluded ministers, parliamentarians,
and members of Somali civil society
as well as international experts.
Off its shores, high-profile attacks
involving large ransoms and in-
creasingly sophisticated equipment
continued to focus attention on So-
malia. Spurred by Security Council
resolutions to expand measures to
counter pirate attacks, the interna-
tional community, in a show of soli-
darity, increased anti-piracy efforts,
making it riskier for pirate ships to
run the gauntlet of naval patrols
and managing to reduce the number
of successful incidents. Piracy and
with just over 70 percent coming
from the European Union. The re-
maining 15 billion CFA francs is the
Ivorian state’s responsibility.
The UN has made a commitment
to supporting open, free, fair
and transparent elections in Côte
d’Ivoire, and to this end it has been
working with state authorities, es-
pecially the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC), the main body
tasked with organizing the polls.
While the UN is not organizing the
elections, the Special Representa-
tive of the Secretary-General is to
certify the process as free and fair,
a weighty challenge.
The UN Development Programme
(UNDP) has contributed $1.2 million,
much of which has been used to buy
voting material, computer and office
equipment and furniture for the IEC
and its local commissions. The re-
mainder has gone largely to training
for the electoral process.
UNOCI’s involvement also in-
cludes providing security for
its effect on the global economy,
however, remain a challenge for the
international community.
The SRSG maintains that the only du-
rable solution to piracy and the over-
all instability in Somalia is to address
its root causes. The answer lies in es-
tablishing effective governance, rule
of law and security institutions and
economic development including job
creation—all pillars within the frame-
work of the Djibouti Agreement. UN-
POS, together with its regional and
international partners, continued its
work in advancing the implementa-
tion of the Djibouti Agreement. 
the process, logistical support,
technical assistance, support
for training and awareness pro-
grammes and fund-raising.
The UN’s commitment began in the
pre-electoral phase, supporting the
public mobile court hearings in 2007,
which enabled hundreds of thou-
sands of undocumented persons to
obtain substitute birth certificates.
For many Ivorians, it was the first
identity document they had ever had.
UNOCI also transported equipment,
officials of the IEC and other bodies
linked to the mobile court process,
including the Justice Ministry.
The mission also gave technical
and logistical assistance to the
Ivorian state in reconstituting
civil registers that were lost or de-
stroyed as a result of the conflict
which broke out in Côte d’Ivoire in
September 2002.
The electoral process moved into
high gear in September 2008 with
the launch of the population iden-
tification and voter registration
operation, which brought with it
39
 new challenges for the Ivorian state
and its partners, including ONUCI.
Identification equipment had to
be transported. Some of the data
collection centres had no electric-
ity, which meant the equipment
brought in for the operation could
not work. Staff needed transport to
remote regions. People had to be in-
formed how and where to register.
Operation Transport mobilized some
300 vehicles and drivers each day to
ferry people and equipment to the
collection centres. Airplanes, heli-
copters and boats replaced cars in
localities more difficult to reach. In
areas off the national electricity grid,
the mission supplied generators.
More than 6 million people registered
throughout the country during the
operation which lasted from Septem-
ber 2008 to June 2009. When a few
months later the provisional voters’
list was drawn up, UNOCI helped the
IEC by transporting the list to local
government areas, from where the
commission distributed it to the col-
lection centres.
As the countdown to the presiden-
tial election progressed, prepara-
tions continued for the poll, which
had been scheduled for 29 Novem-
ber 2009. The mission collected
electoral material which had been
shipped in from abroad, and took it
from the port to IEC storage depots
in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s economic
nerve centre, and Yamoussoukro, the
political capital. UNOCI then ferried
heavy and sensitive equipment from
the storage depots to the 70 depart-
mental IEC offices.
Aware that all the work done by the
Ivorian institutions and their interna-
tional partners could come to naught
should there be widespread violence,
the mission has focused its outreach
activities on creating a peaceful envi-
ronment before, during and after elec-
tion. This has been the main thrust
of seminars, workshops and meet-the-
people sessions conducted in various
parts of the country with media, com-
munity chiefs, women’s and youth
organisations and various interest
groups. Conscious of the value of sport
as a force for reconciliation and har-
mony, UNOCI placed special emphasis
on sport activities aimed at fostering
peace. The mission was asked to pres-
ent these activities at the Third Inter-
national Peace and Sport Forum, held
in November in Monaco.
Throughout Côte d’Ivoire’s peace pro-
cess, the path to elections has been
fraught with delays. Identification
and voter registration were completed
months behind schedule, as were the
production and posting of the voters’
roll. The successive delays led to the
poll’s postponement again in 2009,
with early 2010 the most recent tar-
get. Whenever it occurs, the UN will
continue to provide support. 

Movement Control officers of the UN Operation

in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) load boxes of provi-
sional voter lists onto a helicopter for transport
to various polling stations in Côte d’Ivoire.
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 12 November 2009.
(UN Photo by Ky Chung)

40 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS


Security Council downsizes UNMIL based on
achievements on the ground
How a peacekeeping operation com-
pletes its mandate and leaves a
country can be as important as how
it arrives and begins work. When the
“blue helmets” leave prematurely, re-
gardless of their achievements, full-
blown violence can resume, prompt-
ing the redeployment of international
troops. Such a scenario was most
recently demonstrated by the argu-
ably premature departure of a UN
peacekeeping operation from Timor-
Leste in 2005, and the subsequent
return of a UN peacekeeping mission
backed by an international security
force in 2006. Conversely, a mis-
sion that stays too long and main-
tains too high a profile long after the
conflict has ended risks undermining
support from the host government
and the local population.
In the case of the United Nations
Mission in Liberia, (UNMIL), the
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
Graduates of the Liberian National Police Academy, including 104
female officers, are sworn into the police force. Monrovia, Liberia. 17
Security Council and the Secretar-
iat agreed that a phased downsiz-
ing and a limited demilitarization
of the mission was the smartest
way to proceed. In order to lock
in the gains in peace and stability
realized in the West African coun-
try, which had previously hosted
several UN and regional peace-
keeping operations, this downsiz-
ing takes into account measurable
developments on the ground in the
country as well as the situation in
neighboring states.
In September 2009, the Security
Council voted unanimously to
extend the mandate of UNMIL,
which was established in 2003,
for a further year and to accept
the Secretary-General’s proposed
third phase of its drawdown. This
process involves cutting back by
more than 2,000 military person-
January 2009. (UN photo by Christopher Herwig)
nel and reducing UNMIL’s autho-
rized strength to just under 8,000
troops in Liberia, in addition to
its 250-strong presence at the
Special Court for Sierra Leone in
Freetown. In addition, to lower
the mission’s military profile, orig-
inally designed to show a robust
posture, the Council also called
for the removal of three attack he-
licopters and dozens of armoured
personnel carriers. On the ground,
the mission removed many static
checkpoints and reduced security
posts where operationally and lo-
gistically feasible.
The country continued to make sig-
nificant progress in consolidating
peace and stability, but its gains
remained fragile. The Security
Council agreed with the Secretary-
General that the elections set for
2011, when the Liberian authori-
41
 ties will have primary responsibil-
ity for the polling process, will be
a critical test of the sustainability
of peace in the country. In 2010,
UN efforts will continue to focus
on strengthening Liberia’s security
and rule of law of law institutions
and creating employment opportu-
nities, especially for the country’s
youth and of people of fighting
age. Improving the human rights
situation, especially for Liberian
women, is another high priority.
Peacebuilding: consolidating the gains
of peacekeeping
The components of the United Na-
tions peacebuilding architecture es-
tablished in 2006—the Peacebuild-
ing Commission, Fund and Support
Office,—were particularly active dur-
ing 2009, to supporting and sustain-
ing UN political and peacekeeping
work in post-conflict countries. In
addition, Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon laid out a strategy to support
national efforts to secure sustainable
peace more rapidly and effectively.
In his report on “Peacebuilding in
the Immediate Aftermath of Con-
flict”, issued in July, Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon also set out
an agenda to “bring peacebuilding
upstream and mount a more rapid
and effective response in the imme-
diate aftermath of conflict.” With
the economic crisis which affects
the most vulnerable, he said, “there
is a new urgency to redouble our ef-
forts and ensure that resources are
used more efficiently by promoting
a more coherent, effective and fo-
cused response.”
The Secretary-General’s report fo-
cused on the first two years af-
ter conflict. “By meeting people’s
42
UNMIL’s achievements over the
years are indisputable. The “blue
helmets” disarmed more than
100,000 ex-combatants, supported
the country’s first democratic elec-
tions in decades (which resulted
in Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf becoming
Africa’s first female elected head
of state), and provided the secu-
rity necessary for reconstruction,
economic development and rec-
onciliation. For these achieve-
ments and others, UNMIL remains
demands for security, shoring up
the political process, delivering a
peace dividend and strengthening
national capacity, we can help na-
tional actors in their efforts to set
positive dynamics in motion right
from the start,” he wrote.
The Peacebuilding Commission
(PBC) focused attention on the
countries currently on its agenda,
including Burundi, the Central Af-
rican Republic, Guinea-Bissau and
Sierra Leone. The PBC assists UN
peacebuilding efforts by providing
sustained international attention,
mobilising resources and strength-
ening partnerships in support of
key peacebuilding priorities of
countries emerging from conflict.
The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) con-
tributes to consolidating peace by
funding projects that are designed
to respond to the imminent threats
to the peace process, build or
strengthen national capacities to
promote peaceful resolution of
conflict, stimulate economic revi-
talization and re-establish essential
administrative services. The Peace-
building Fund, managed by the
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
extremely popular with the demo-
cratically elected government and
the local population.
When the Security Council ulti-
mately decides that a peacekeep-
ing force is no longer required in
Liberia, it will hopefully be not
a day to soon or too late. The fi-
nal withdrawal should be a source
of pride for Liberians and for the
United Nations, which has helped
bring them peace at long last. 
Peacebuilding Support Office at UN
Headquarters, extended its reach
with fast, relevant and catalytic
funding in 15 countries. In addition
to providing financial assistance
to the countries on the agenda of
the PBC, the PBF supported peace-
building projects in Comoros, Côte
d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Nepal, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Haiti, Timor-Leste, Kenya, Comoros
and Somalia.
During its third year of engagement
in Sierra Leone, and in support of
the United Nations Integrated
Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Le-
one (UNIPSIL), the Peacebuilding
Commission focused international
attention on the country through
convening a high-level special ses-
sion in June 2009. That session
produced an outcome document
that welcomed the government’s
Agenda for Change and the United
Nations’ joint vision for Sierra Le-
one which supports it. The outcome
document adopted in June 2009 at
the High Level special Session on
Sierra Leone committed the PBC to
promoting good governance, the
rule of law, combating illegal drug

trafficking and addressing youth
unemployment. The PBC engage-
ment in Sierra Leone has been bol-
stered by approximately $37 mil-
lion from the Peacebuilding Fund.
UNIPSIL, established in 2008,
succeeded peacekeeping opera-
tions that ended a bloody civil
war in Sierra Leone in 2002. As
the first country to be addressed
by the UN’s peacebuilding struc-
tures established in 2006, Sierra
Leone has been in a sense a labo-
ratory for the UN peacebuilding
efforts. UNIPSIL, responsible for
coordinating political, develop-
ment and humanitarian support,
has found that peacebuilding
takes continuous mediation and a
dedicated, coordinated and sup-
ported strategy. Political violence
between the youth of rival parties
in 2009, for example, temporarily
threatened to undo the good done
by seven years of peacekeeping.
UNIPSIL helped mediate a joint
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
Women in Mpimba central prison receive new uniforms and blan-
kets from a Peacebuilding Fund project, Bujumbura, Burundi.
communiqué against further vio-
lence, but the future path for
peacebuilding in Sierra Leone is
not yet fully charted.
Using the model of Sierra Leone,
the Security Council has authorized
similar transitions from peacekeep-
ing to peacebuilding in other post-
conflict operations.. Political mis-
sions in the Central African Republic
(BONUCA) and Guinea-Bissau (UN-
OGBIS) are to become integrated
peacebuilding offices in early 2010,
while the UN Integrated Office in
Burundi, another peacekeeping suc-
cessor, will also be led by the De-
partment of Political Affairs.
The Peacebuilding Commission
and Fund have also supported the
United Nations Integrated Office
in Burundi (BINUB) in focusing on
disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration (DDR), and assisting
the country as it prepares for elec-
tions in 2010. The Peacebuilding
10 November 2009. (UN Photo by Sylvain Liechti)
Fund, through its $37 million al-
location to Burundi, has also sup-
ported the socio-economic reinte-
gration of ex-combatants.
Support to the security sector was
prioritized as crucial in Burundi.
The PBF funded two initiatives for
improving the defense forces by
rehabilitating 14 army barracks for
23,700 military personnel, 94 per-
cent of the country’s military force.
Also, the PBF ensured that some 90
percent of Burundi’s military per-
sonnel received training towards
the building of a professionalized,
peacetime force.
In addition, bringing together key
actors for political dialogue was
prioritized as important to sustain-
able peace in Burundi. BINUB ini-
tiated a set of dialogue meetings
across Burundi’s 17 provinces, pro-
viding Burundians with a chance to
contribute to the debate on build-
ing a peaceful future.
43
 The Peacebuilding Commission,
working with the United Nations
Peacebuilding Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), final-
ized the Strategic Framework for
Peacebuilding in Guinea-Bissau
covering six areas, including: elec-
toral support; measures to jump-
start the economy and rehabilitate
the infrastructure, particularly in
the energy sector; security sector
reform; strengthening of the jus-
tice sector and measures against
drug trafficking; public adminis-
tration reform; and social issues
critical to peacebuilding. The PBF
has allocated $6 million to support
the strengthening of prisons, army
barracks, youth employment and
the electoral process.
The Commission has worked with
the United Nations Peacebuilding
Office in the Central African Repub-
lic (BONUCA) in the areas of se-
curity sector reform and DDR, rule
of law and good governance and
the establishment of development
hubs. The Central African Republic
has also benefited from an initial
allocation of $10 million from the
Peacebuilding Fund.
A more promising outlook
in Haiti
Five years into the stabilization
process, Haiti appeared to be on
the right track to advance toward
a more promising future for its
people, thanks to the combined
efforts of the Haitian authorities,
the United Nations Stabilization
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and
the international community.
“Haiti has a remarkable opportu-
nity to escape the chains of its
past,” said former US President
Clinton in his first briefing to the
Security Council last September as
United Nations Special Envoy for
Haiti. He noted that the outlook
for the country was positive, with
a government committed to build-
ing a modern state, large pledges
of donor assistance, a diaspora
willing to assist and goodwill from
the international community.
President Clinton was appointed
by Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon
following a joint visit to Haiti in
March 2009 along with the Secu-
rity Council to assess how best to
assist the country in economic
recovery and reconstruction after
the 2008 devastating storms.
As Special Envoy, Mr. Clinton’s man-
date was to include assisting the
Government of Haiti in implement-
ing its recovery plan, generating
new jobs, improving the delivery
of basic services and rebuilding in-
frastructure, strengthening disaster
preparedness, attracting private
sector investment and fostering
greater international support.
Since assuming his functions, Spe-
cial Envoy Clinton welcomed a del-
egation of more than 600 business
leaders in Haiti to explore invest-
ment opportunities. His Clinton
Global Initiative also committed
$428 million for two years (2008-
2009) for various projects in Haiti.

“There are no quick fixes for holding

and sustaining peace,” the Secretary-
General concluded in his report,
“….(I)f the international communi-
ty, led by the United Nations system,
is ready to respond rapidly, coher-
ently and effectively, we can help to
give national actors a greater chance
of sustaining peace and laying the
foundations for sustainable develop-
ment. All too often it is the innocent
men, women and children who pay
the price of war. We cannot ask them
to pay the price of peace.” 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) accompanied

by former United States President Bill Clinton during
a visit to Haiti aimed at raising global awareness
of the country’s recovery and reconstruction needs.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 10 March 2009.
(UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe)

44 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

An electoral worker and Jordanian peacekeepers collect and
organize ballots at the MINUSTAH’s intake centre before
sending them for counting, during the second round of the
senatorial elections, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 24 June 2009.
(UN Photo by Logan Abassi)
The linkage between security, sta-
bility and development was reaf-
firmed by Security Council members
during a debate on Haiti in Sep-
tember. While stressing that much
progress had been achieved in the
political and security sectors since
2006, members emphasized that
the dire socio-economic situation
remains a key challenge to peace
consolidation, and they urged the
international community to keep
its support steady.
Addressing the Council, Special
Representative of the Secretary-
General Hédi Annabi highlighted
the progress achieved in five key
benchmark areas of the consolida-
tion plan endorsed by the Secu-
rity Council. They include political
dialogue and elections, the exten-
sion of state authority, ensuring
security, strengthening the rule of
law and human rights and socio-
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
economic development. He noted
that Haiti’s security capacities had
increased to nearly 10,000 Hai-
tian National Police (HNP) officers.
With the support of MINUSTAH and
Haiti’s partners, the Haitian state
had restored its authority over the
entire territory, and the security
situation opened a window of op-
portunity for economic improve-
ment. The peacekeeping mission
also contributed to enhancing
Haiti’s institutional capacity and
supporting reforms that increased
customs revenues and enhanced
local management of resources.
On 13 October, the Security Council
unanimously voted to extend MI-
NUSTAH’s mandate for an addition-
al year, with a slight adjustment in
the force configuration (augment-
ing the number of UNPOL officers
by 120, and reducing the number
of troops by the same amount) to
better meet the requirements on
the ground.
Council members reiterated their
support to the stabilization pro-
cess and stressed the need to so-
lidify the gains achieved to ensure
that progress is irreversible.
“We must not lower our guard pre-
maturely,” SRSG Annabi told the
Council. “Haiti continues to face
threats, including the potential for
resumed activity by gangs, crimi-
nals and other armed groups and
violence associated with illegal
trafficking, and the risk of civil un-
rest.” All of those threats may be
manipulated to achieve personal or
political objectives, he warned, in-
cluding in the context of forthcom-
ing electoral processes.
On 30 October, a group of 18 sena-
tors unexpectedly cast a vote of no
45
 confidence against Prime Minister
Michèle Pierre-Louis, accusing her of
failing to take effective steps in her
one year in office to address high
unemployment and more broadly the
Government’s lack of socio-econom-
ic results. The move raised concerns
within the international community
of a lengthy political gap. However,
the selection process for a new prime
minister was completed in less than
two weeks. Led by Jean-Max Bel-
lerive, the Minister of Planning and
External Relations and renowned
economist, the new cabinet—the
third during the present term of
President Préval—included 11 min-
isters of the previous team. Bellerive
pledged to attract more investment
and create jobs.
Elections to renew Haiti’s Lower
House and one-third of the Senate,
seen as a critical test for further-
ing the stabilization and democratic
process, were scheduled for the first
quarter of 2010. 

DDR evolves to meet new challenges

Disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration (DDR) is a key post-
conflict activity that aims to rein-
force peace processes, build confi-
dence among parties involved, and
contribute to stabilization and early
recovery. Spanning the whole spec-
trum of peacemaking, peacekeeping
and peacebuilding, DDR is a multi-
dimensional process which has been
constantly evolving, in the field and
at UN Headquarters.
In 2009, the DDR section of the De-
partment of Peacekeeping Operations
(DPKO) continued to support DDR
processes in BINUB (Burundi), MO-
NUC (the Democratic Republic of the
Congo), UNOCI (Côte d’Ivoire), UNMIS
(Sudan), UNMIL (Liberia) and UN-
AMID (Darfur), as well as a commu-
nity violence reduction Programme in
MINUSTAH (Haiti), with a caseload of
more than 520,000 ex-combatants.
DPKO also assisted planning for DDR
in Somalia.
In southern Sudan, the DDR pro-
cess was launched in February
2009, and as of December, some
18,000 ex-combatants and mem-
bers of special needs groups had
been demobilized in five sites with
the assistance of the United Na-
tions Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) as
part of the nationally owned DDR
programme. According to the Su-
dan National DDR Strategic Plan,
up to 180,000 participants are to
be demobilized over three years,

A former combatant registers to disarm at the launch of the disarmament,

demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme sponsored by UNMIS in Ed
Damazin, Sudan. 5 May 2009. (UN Photo by Johann Hattingh)

46 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

which will make it the world’s larg-
est DDR programme.
In October, in Darfur, representatives
from four peacekeeping operations in
the region, DPKO and UNDP gathered
in El Fasher for a three-day simulation
exercise aimed at team-building and
undertaking pre-planning on possible
scenarios for DDR in Darfur and the
wider region.
From eastern DRC, the UN mission
MONUC repatriated more than 4,000
ex-combatants and dependents to
Rwanda this year. “This is more than
triple the repatriation rate for the same
period last year,” noted Gregory “Gro-
mo” Alex, who leads DDR programmes
for MONUC. The mission managed the
disarmament, demobilization, repatri-
ation, resettlement and reintegration
operations (DDRRR) for foreign com-
batants, and continued to support the
Training and transparency in conduct and discipline
In addressing misconduct by peace-
keeping personnel in 2009, the Con-
duct and Discipline Unit (CDU) of the
Department of Field Support priori-
tized prevention activities, and in
particular training. The UN’s strategy
to eliminate sexual exploitation and
abuse is three-pronged: prevention,
enforcement of UN standards of con-
duct and remedial action.
Together with the Integrated Training
Service of the Department of Peace-
keeping Operations, the CDU launched
new core pre-deployment training ma-
terial, which is available to all troop
and police contributing countries. Pi-
lot testing was carried out in Germany,
Nepal and in regional peacekeeping
training centers in Ghana and Guate-
mala, where training in the delivery
of this material was also conducted.
In addition, a new induction training
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
national government’s DDR processes
for Congolese combatants. In 2009,
the national DDR program processed
some 13,600 combatants, of whom
about 8,080 were integrated in the
national armed forces (FARDC) and
about 5,530 were demobilized.
The President of Liberia officially
ended the DDRR programme in that
country on 15 July 2009. In less than
five years, some 101,000 ex-combat-
ants were disarmed and demobilised,
including 20,200 women, 9,000 boys
and 2,700 girls. The DDRR programme
contributed to the peace consolida-
tion process in Liberia, while using
new approaches such as employing
ex-combatants in infrastructure devel-
opment projects conducted in partner-
ship with the World Bank and UNDP.
Other innovative approaches that
helped stabilization efforts of
module on standards of conduct was
tested with mission staff responsible
for conduct and discipline training.
CDU’s priorities in 2009 also fo-
cused on explaining its mandate and
further disseminating the UN’s zero
tolerance policy towards sexual ex-
ploitation and abuse.
A new website was launched in No-
vember to provide added transparen-
cy and more comprehensive informa-
tion on the status of conduct and
discipline allegations. The new con-
duct and discipline website (http://
cdu.unlb.org) provides aggregated
data on allegations of misconduct
and results of investigations.
In 2009, the UN received 95 allega-
tions of sexual exploitation and ab-
use (as of 30 November) compared
peacekeeping operations in 2009
included the “1,000 micro-projects”
in Côte d’Ivoire and the community
violence reduction programme in
Haiti. The “Second Generation DDR”
report to be published in early 2010
will include an evolving set of prac-
tices that promote and sustain the
objectives of DDR in peace opera-
tion contexts where the precondi-
tions for the traditional model of
DDR don’t exist and where irregular
armed groups are prevalent.
“This year, integration and in-
novation have been the name of
the game. By thinking out of the
box, and also looking at non-tra-
ditional approaches to DDR, we
hope to overcome some of the
challenges we are faced with in
peace operations,” concluded Aya-
ka Suzuki, chief of the DDR Sec-
tion in DPKO. 
with 83 such allegations in 2008 and
127 in 2007.
Remedial action in 2009 centered
on establishing the foundations for
implementation of the victims as-
sistance strategy, as detailed in the
Secretary-General’s “Report on the
Implementation of the United Nations
Comprehensive Strategy on Assistance
and Support to Victims of Sexual Ex-
ploitation and Abuse by United Nati-
ons Staff and Related Personnel.“
The strategy, adopted in 2007, ensu-
res that victims of sexual exploita-
tion and abuse by UN personnel re-
ceive timely assistance and support,
in the form of medical care, legal
services, support for psychological
and social care and immediate ma-
terial care, including food, clothing
and shelter. 
47
 Spanish peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL on a foot patrol in
the village of Khiam, South Lebanon. 6 August 2009.
(UN Photo by Pasqual Gorriz)

On alert in the Middle East >>

UNIFIL’s strategic communications:
Actions speak louder than words
25 December 2008: High alert is
sounded across southern Lebanon
where the United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is de-
ployed, after the Lebanese Armed
Forces (LAF) discover and defuse,
with UNIFIL’s assistance, eight
rockets ready to be launched in the
direction of Israel.
In this atmosphere, when hos-
tilities break out in Gaza in late
December and escalate through
January 2009, raised tensions in
the area bear heavily on public
perceptions in southern Leba-
non. Media speculation is rife on
a possible second front opening
up against Israel from Lebanon,
where more than 400,000 Pal-
estinian refugees reside. Public
apprehensions are particularly
intense along the villages that
string the UN-drawn Line of (Is-
raeli) Withdrawal (from Lebanon
in 2000) known as the Blue Line,
an area just recovering from the
devastating consequences of the
summer 2006 war between Hez-
bollah and Israel.
8 January: Unknown perpetra-
tors in southern Lebanon fire
two rockets into Israel; the Israel
Defence Forces (IDF) retaliate
with artillery shells directed at
the rocket launch site. The next
day, a UNIFIL patrol finds a hid-
den bunker with 34 rockets in
the mountain fold of Kfar Shouba
overlooking the disputed She-
baa Farms (that Lebanon claims)
along the Israeli-occupied Golan.
It is an old weapons cache dating
from the 2006 war, but the timing
of the find adds to the tensions.

48 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

14 January: More rockets are fired
towards Israel from the eastern sec-
tor. The IDF fires back artillery shells.
In follow-up operations in the area,
UNIFIL and LAF discover and disarm
three more rockets equipped with tim-
ers, ready to be fired in the direction
of Israel.
As tensions mount, UNIFIL and LAF
adopt a high operational tempo across
southern Lebanon and especially along
the Blue Line. A particular concern of
the mission is that the large troop
presence, although necessary for se-
curity and public confidence, could in
turn fuel public apprehensions of an
imminent war, besides other negative
consequences of military operations on
the civilian population. It is therefore
important to talk to the people, find
out their concerns, explain to them
the security initiatives and generally
allay apprehensions.
Time is of the essence here; there are
already reports of people wanting to
pack and leave the area – as many
did during the 2006 war – and that
could potentially precipitate a new
humanitarian crisis. Feedback must
be quickly obtained on public per-
ceptions on the ground, their fears
and concerns analysed to develop ap-
propriate messages to address them
and the messages then disseminated
across the communities in a consis-
tent and comprehensive way. The
mission’s handful of communications
staff cannot do that so quickly. There-
fore troops must be used as they are
already out there among the people.
But soldiers are not trained commu-
nicators: they need clear guidelines
on what to ask and what to say to
the people they meet.
As a first step therefore, UNIFIL troops
are given guidelines from mission
headquarters to find out what the
people’s fears and concerns are; how
they view developments in southern
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
UN Special Coordinator contributes to peace in Lebanon
The 12,300 “blue helmets” patrolling
the Blue Line in southern Lebanon are
the most visible aspect of the United
Nations’ presence in that country. How-
ever, the UN has political, developmen-
tal and humanitarian roles in addition
to peacekeeping, which are coordinated
and provided with political direction by
the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
(UNSCOL), based in Beirut. Under his
guidance, the more than 20 agencies
all seek to work together as ‘one UN,’
in order to support peace and devel-
opment in Lebanon, which the United
Nations views as complimentary and in-
extricably linked.
While the UN involvement in Lebanon
dates back to the early years after the
founding of the Organization, Special
Coordinator Michael Williams works
particularly closely with UNIFIL on the
implementation of Security Council
resolution 1701, which ended a 34-day
conflict with Israel in 2006.
The resolution, which led to a cessation
of hostilities between the parties, saw
the Lebanese Armed Forces deployed in
South Lebanon for the first time in de-
cades, and imposed an arms embargo on
forces other than the Lebanese govern-
ment and UNIFIL, remain a top priority
for the United Nations. It has created
a largely stable situation along the Blue
Line that separates Lebanon and Israel,
and has brought about the longest pe-
riod of calm, without casualties on either
side, in more than a quarter of a century.
At the same time, the three-year-old ces-
sation of hostilities does remain fragile,
as a number of incidents in the summer
and autumn of 2009 underscored. UN
Special Coordinator Michael Williams thus
remains in close contact with Lebanon’s
diverse political leadership and with the
Israeli government, to keep tensions at
bay and solidify the arrangements put in
place under resolution 1701.
Williams has also been proactive on
the domestic stage in Lebanon. Rec-
ognising that the effort to build and
strengthen Lebanese institutions and
the regular political process is an im-
portant outcome envisaged by resolu-
tion 1701 and other Security Council
resolutions on Lebanon, the UN Special
Coordinator worked with Lebanese po-
litical leaders, encouraging peaceful
parliamentary elections that took place
in early June this year. Prolonged ne-
gotiations between the different sides
produced a national unity government
that received parliamentary endorse-
ment in December 2009.
UNSCOL continues to engage with the
Lebanese authorities, encouraging them
to pursue further-ranging reforms for
the welfare and benefit of the popula-
tion, and offering the UN system’s co-
ordinated assistance. Williams’ Office
also continues to work on other aspects
of resolution 1701, coordinating the in-
ternational community’s assistance to
improve Lebanon’s management of its
borders, seeking to halt all violations of
the resolution, including regular over-
flights by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft,
and encouraging the delineation of the
land border between Lebanon and Syria,
which remains uncertain in many areas,
including the so-called Sheb’a Farms in
the tri-border region between Israel,
Lebanon and Syria.
Special Coordinator Williams remained
confident that, taking into account the
tensions and tests of the past, stabil-
ity would continue to prevail along the
Blue Line. As he told the Department
of Political Affairs’ Politically Speaking,
“Despite the fears and strong feelings
that exist, both countries have seen it
in their interest to remain committed to
1701. There’s real hope for the future,
provided they take it forward and imple-
ment the remaining aspects.”
49
 Lebanon, the response of UNIFIL
and the Lebanese Army, and, more
broadly, how they view the out-
break of hostilities in Gaza. The
feedback so obtained is then inte-
grated at mission headquarters to
identify communications priorities.
Key messages are issued for dis-
semination, not just by the special-
ized communications components,
but by all civilian and military ele-
ments on the ground.
This typifies UNIFIL’s new approach
to strategic communications that
combines civilian and military ca-
pabilities to enable an informa-
tion-driven response to the needs
and concerns of the communities
in a way that integrates the mis-
sion’s operational and humanitar-
ian initiatives. Most importantly,
the approach focuses on actions
more than words: what we are do-
ing must be consistent with what
we are saying.
Synergy of words and actions
across the different mission com-
ponents is ensured through a co-
ordination mechanism that brings
together all units having any form
of public interface in the normal
course of their work. The central
coordinating body constantly re-
views communications priorities,
determining not just what to say,
but also what to do, i.e. specific
50
actions or initiatives to be taken
by units on the ground, as these
have a bearing on the public’s per-
ception through the message in-
herent in the action.
The operative communications
principle is centralised messag-
ing and decentralised delivery.
Messages so formulated have a
mission-wide perspective while
incorporating specific inputs from
ground units on particular local-
ized concerns. This also ensures
that whereas all UNIFIL compo-
nents speak from the same page,
their combined involvement in
delivering the message maximizes
its reach, while at the same time
serving as guidelines for com-
manders and troops on the ground
to tailor their own activities and
general conduct so that the force
posture corresponds to the “mes-
sage” of the Mission.
While addressing specific issues as
they emerge, the basic key mes-
sages drawn from UNIFIL’s mandate
and explaining related activities
remain the basis for all media and
outreach communications. Repeat-
ing the same messages in different
situations helps position the mis-
sion’s relevance in the context of
the expansive public concerns re-
lating to security and stability in
southern Lebanon.
U N I T E D N AT I O N S P E A C E O P E R AT I O N S
UNIFIL also carries out targeted
communications. Specialists within
the mission identify and analyze
the concerns and information needs
of specific audiences. This could
be related to particular incidents
or developments in a certain part
of UNIFIL’s area of operations that
need to be explained to the resi-
dents. Specific concerns may ema-
nate from perceptions prevailing
among certain communities by vir-
tue of their location – whether rural
or urban, or residing along the Blue
Line and so on. Socio-religious and
political factors may also play a role.
Such specific information needs are
addressed by packaging relevant
messages for high-impact delivery
using multi-media channels.
The preferred means of dissemi-
nation though is face-to-face
communications that place a pre-
mium on inter-personal relations
between peacekeepers and the
people among whom they oper-
ate. This is done in the context of
UNIFIL’s community relations that
include regular liaison with local
authorities and key leaders, as well
as a range of humanitarian projects
undertaken by the mission across
southern Lebanon.
Quarterly public perception surveys
conducted by UNIFIL through an
independent Lebanese consultancy
indicate the effectiveness of the
communications initiative. This
is demonstrated by the high level
of public acceptance of UNIFIL’s
heavy military presence and its op-
erations in civilian areas. 
Indonesian peacekeepers serving with
UNIFIL distribute toys to Lebanese
children, Srifa, South Lebanon.
11 August 2009. (UN Photo)
50

UNSCO helps Gaza recover from January conflict
With offices in Jerusalem, Ramal-
lah and Gaza, the United Nations
Special Coordinator Office for the
Middle East (UNSCO) represents
the Secretary-General and leads
the UN system in all political and
diplomatic efforts related to the
peace process, including in the
Middle East Quartet. UNSCO also
coordinates the humanitarian and
development work of UN agencies
and programmes in the occupied
Palestinian territory, in support of
the Palestinian Authority (PA) and
the Palestinian people.
This past year began with intense
fighting between the Israeli Army
and Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli Gov-
ernment launched “Operation Cast
Lead” and fierce conflict ensued in
the Gaza Strip with rocket fire also
hitting various communities inside
Israel. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon arrived in region in the midst
of the January crisis, meeting with
both the Israeli leadership and the
Palestinian Authority. He also went
to Gaza, the first international lead-
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a press conference in
front of the damaged warehouse of the Gaza headquarters of
the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). 20 January 2009.
er to do so in several years, just as
the hostilities had ceased and liter-
ally while the embers from the con-
flict were still smoking.
UNSCO worked feverishly through-
out this time, supporting the
Secretary-General’s diplomatic en-
deavors, as well as the operations
of UN agencies which attempted to
maintain their essential humanitar-
ian work in the most difficult and
dangerous of circumstances. Facili-
ties and personnel from the United
Nations Relief and Work Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNWRA) were
caught up directly in the fighting.
Some schools serving as public
shelters were struck by Israeli fire,
with significant numbers of people
both killed and injured.
“I have come to Gaza to see for my-
self the extent of the damage caused
by the last three weeks of fighting
and to demonstrate my solidarity
to the population of Gaza, and to
assure you of the United Nations
and the international community’s
(UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
full support to help you overcome
this difficulty,” Secretary-General
Ban said at a press briefing in Gaza
on 20 January 2009.
The UN Country Team and UNSCO
were also trying to bring relief to
the people of Gaza in the wake
of the conflict. Robert Serry, the
Special Coordinator, supported by
the Secretary-General was instru-
mental in trying get agreement
from the Israeli authorities to
bring into Gaza urgently needed
materials to begin reconstruction
of clinics, schools and other facili-
ties destroyed during the fighting.
Despite significant efforts, UN re-
quests were to date refused, but
UNSCO laid the ground-work for
reconstruction to begin when per-
mission is granted.
UNSCO continued its role help-
ing the Palestinian Authority and
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad’s plan to establish the fun-
damental infrastructure of a Pales-
tinian State. UNSCO has provided
51
 political and practical assistance
to the PA leadership, supporting
its objectives and also facilitat-
ing capacity-building in the West
Bank, vital to the plan. The Special
Coordinator also supported the ef-
forts of regional players for Pales-
tinian reconciliation.
Throughout the year, UNSCO con-
tinued its mediation efforts in
support of Security Council reso-
lutions and agreements, bilateral-
ly with the parties and involving
the wider international communi-
UNTSO remains active in the Middle East
Over the past year, military observers
with the oldest UN peacekeeping
operation, the UN Truce Supervision
Organization (UNTSO), continued to
conduct inspections, patrols and liai-
son in the area of limitation of forces
and armaments and maintain obser-
vation posts on or near the perime-
ter of the area of separation between
Israeli and Syrian forces.
In 2009, some 150 UNTSO military
observers were deployed in the Go-
lan and southern Lebanon, at the
mission’s headquarters in Jerusalem
and at its liaison offices in Beirut,
Ismailia (Egypt) and Damascus.
UNDOF acts to keep the peace in the
Golan Heights
Patrols were reinforced and UNDOF
stepped up its liaison with local
leaders during 2009 as the 35-year-
old mission adopted a more flexible
and mobile operational concept of
its mission to monitor the increas-
ingly busy area of separation be-
tween Syria and Israel.
52
ty. In all his contacts Robert Serry
underlined the growing urgency
of reaching a two-state solution
and how its viability is at risk
if an agreement is not reached
soon. Mr Serry’s efforts kept him
on the move in Israel, the Occu-
pied Palestinian Territories, and
throughout the region. In his
contacts, the Special Coordinator
was assisted by UNSCO staff who
have developed an acute under-
standing of the political currents
in the region and a network of
key contacts.
UNTSO observers also conducted
liaison activities and patrols with
the United Nations Interim Force
in Lebanon in the UNIFIL area of
responsibility.
Set up in May 1948, UNTSO was the
first peacekeeping operation esta-
blished by the United Nations. Over
the years, UNTSO military observers
have remained in the Middle East to
monitor ceasefires, supervise armi-
stice agreements, prevent isolated
incidents from escalating and assist
other UN peacekeeping operations
in the region.
Over the past year, the situation
in the Israel-Syria region of the
Golan Heights remained generally
quiet. UNDOF, which was estab-
lished in May 1974 to supervise
the ceasefire called for by the Se-
curity Council and the agreement
on disengagement between Syrian
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
2009 was a particularly busy year for
UNSCO, noted for both the military
and enduring political crisis. The
absence of negotiations between
Israel and the Palestinian Author-
ity was the focus of significant in-
ternational attention, and the UN
along with its Quartet partners has
underscored the importance of a dip-
lomatic solution, and what needs to
be done to get the parties moving in
the right direction. UNSCO offices in
Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gaza have
prepared for what promises to be a
challenging year ahead. 
The functions of UNTSO have
been modified from time to time
in light of changing circum-
stances. Since the establishment
of the United Nations Disengage-
ment Observer Force (UNDOF) in
1974 and UNIFIL in 1978, UNT-
SO military observers assigned
to the Israel-Lebanon and the
Israel-Syrian Arab Republic sec-
tors have been placed under the
operational control of the com-
manders of UNIFIL and UNDOF to
assist them in the fulfillment of
their tasks. 
and Israeli forces of 31 May 1974,
continued to perform its functions
effectively, with the cooperation of
the parties.
UNDOF supervises the area of
separation by means of fixed po-
sitions and patrols to ensure that

military forces of either party
were excluded from it. The force
also carried out fortnightly in-
spections of equipment and force
levels in the areas of limitation.
A battalion from the Philippines
joined the 1,430-member force
in 2009, and Poland withdrew
its contingent which had served
throughout the mission’s history
until this year.
Due in part to the results of UN-
DOF’s presence, development ac-
tivities in the area of separation
increased, and UNDOF continued
to adapt its operational posture to
the ongoing Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) training activities and Syrian
civilian growth in proximity to the
ceasefire line. Both sides contin-
ued to construct new and renovate
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
An Austrian peacekeeper checks a patrol track in the area of
separation near the Golan Heights, Syria. 14 July 2009.
existing defensive positions in the
respective areas of limitation.
In calling for a six-month extension
of the UNDOF mandate in December
2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon wrote that: “Under the pre-
vailing circumstances, I consider
the continued presence of UNDOF
in the area to be essential.”
The Secretary-General called on
the Israeli and Syrian govern-
ments to resume dialogue in in-
direct talks initiated by Turkey,
and noted that both sides have
continued to impede UN peace-
keepers from performing their full
duties in some locations.
"Both sides continued to con-
struct new and renovate existing
(UN Photo by Martin Austerhuber)
defensive positions in the respec-
tive areas of limitation," he wrote.
He also warned of an increased
threat to UNDOF personnel and lo-
cal inhabitants from long-planted
mines with deteriorating detona-
tion systems.
In December, he also warned that
the mission faced a financial short-
fall of nearly one half of its $45
million budget approved by the
General Assembly.
“The outstanding contributions im-
pede the ability of the Secretariat
to support the operations of the
Force and to reimburse Member
States contributing troops to the
Force,” he wrote. 
53
 Helping pave the road to peace in Cyprus
The United Nations Peacekeeping around the world who have helped
Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), the maintain stability and calm for
Organization’s third oldest peace- decades on the troubled eastern
keeping operation (after UNTSO Mediterranean island under the
and UNMOGIP), marked its 45th blue UN flag.
anniversary in 2009. Although
the occasion in itself was not a What puts the anniversary in great-
cause for celebration, it did serve er relief, however, was the fact that
as testament to the success of the it came as the two main communi-
thousands of men and women from ties of the island once again were
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, Alexander
Downer, together with the Cy-
prus leaders Demetris Christofias
(left) and Mehmet Ali Talat
(right) address media as peace
talks gathered momentum in
January 2009. UN Protected
Area, Nicosia, Cyprus.
(UN Photo)
54 U N I T E D N AT I O N S P E A C E O P E R AT I O N S
engaging in a process to overcome
their differences and re-unite the
country. This latest attempt at a
comprehensive settlement in Cy-
prus raised hope in the interna-
tional community. A year since
they began, direct peace talks may
not have moved as quickly as some
expected. However, considerable
progress has been made, which led
the Secretary-General to emphasize
while in Greece in November 2009
that, despite the many challenges,
he remained “cautiously optimistic”
over prospects for a settlement.
One of the main challenges facing
the peace process is the mistrust
that still prevails in many aspects
of the relationship between Greek
and Turkish Cypriots. This was ex-
emplified by the delay in opening
a highly symbolic crossing point
between the two sides situated in
the northwest of the island. The
opening of the Limnitis/Yesilir-
mak crossing – considered eco-
nomically vital by local residents
from both sides of the divide –
had been agreed in March 2008,
when the two leaders met to kick
off the series of encounters that
led to full-fledged negotiations
starting in September of that
year. Over a year later, follow-
ing months of recrimination and
accusations, the crossing was
still to be opened. An initiative
designed to build confidence be-
tween the two sides seemed in-
stead to erode trust.
And the Limnitis/Yesilirmak cross-
ing was not the only confidence-
building measure in abeyance. In
May 2009, the Secretary-General
wrote in his semi-annual report on
UNFICYP that he was disappointed
that since the agreement on nearly
54
two dozen confidence-building mea-
sures during the preparatory phase
of the talks, the parties had made
little progress on their implemen-
tation. “The apparent lack of po-
litical will to implement the agreed
measures constitutes a missed op-
portunity in building public support
within the communities for the pro-
cess and creating an improved in-
ter-communal atmosphere crucial to
a future united Cyprus,” he wrote.
Amid mounting concern over the
prospects for the peace talks, the
eventual opening of the Limnitis/
Yesilirmak crossing – which UNFI-
CYP will help operate – was greeted
not only with relief but with a re-
newed sense of optimism over the
possibility of a lasting accord. As
The UN mission in Georgia ends
The UN peacekeeping mission in
Georgia came to an end when the
Security Council, on 15 June 2009,
failed to extend the mandate of
the United Nations Observer Mis-
sion in Georgia (UNOMIG), due to
the veto by one of the permanent
Council members. Ten countries
had voted in favor of a resolution
extending the Mission, while four
countries abstained.
In a statement issued by his Spokes-
person after the vote, Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon said that he
“regrets that the Security Council
has been unable to reach agree-
ment on the basis of a package of
practical and realistic proposals he
submitted to the Security Council
aimed at contributing to a stabiliza-
tion of the situation on the ground.”
He also expressed deep appreciation
for the Mission’s commitment and
contribution to peace and security
over the last decade and a half.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
with the opening of the famous
Ledra Street crossing over a year
earlier, what once had been seen
as insurmountable obstacles were
overcome, potentially an indica-
tion of future cooperation between
the two sides.
The agreement to open this new-
est crossing point was another
demonstration of the political
will and leadership the Secretary-
General commended in the lead-
ers of the two communities, Greek
Cypriot Demetris Christofias and
Turkish-Cypriot Mehmet Ali Ta-
lat. The Secretary-General’s Spe-
cial Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander
Downer, was leading the United
Nations political effort on the
ground, bringing the Cypriot lead-
UNOMIG was originally established
in August 1993 to verify compli-
ance with the ceasefire agreement
following the outbreak of hostili-
ties between the Georgian Govern-
ment and the Abkhaz authorities
striving to separate Abkhazia from
the Republic of Georgia. Its man-
date was subsequently expanded to
monitor and verify the implemen-
tation by the parties of the Agree-
ment on a Ceasefire and Separation
of Forces signed in Moscow on 14
May 1994.
While UNOMIG had no role in
nearby South Ossetia, another
independence- driven region of
Georgia, the dramatic develop-
ments there in August 2008 and
subsequent events, — such as the
recognition by the Russian Fed-
eration of Abkhazia’s and South
Ossetia’s independence and Geor-
gia’s withdrawal from the 1994
Moscow Agreement on a Ceasefire
ers together on over 50 occasions
for direct talks so far.
As 2009 came to an end, there was
no scheduled date for the conclu-
sion of the peace talks, which had
entered their second round. UN-
FICYP and the Secretary-General’s
good offices mission in Cyprus
were working hand-in-hand to fa-
cilitate the negotiations, with the
Secretary-General’s assurance that
he would continue to give unwaver-
ing support to the two sides in their
search for a settlement. When, and
if, one is reached and approved by
voters on both sides of the island, it
is likely that UNFICYP’s almost half-
century of experience will be tapped
to help Cyprus make the transition
to a united country at last. 
and Separation of Forces, — con-
siderably affected the context
in which UNOMIG carried out its
mandated tasks.
The security regime in the Geor-
gian-Abkhaz conflict zone, based
on the Moscow Agreement, saw fur-
ther signs of erosion. The Collective
Peacekeeping Forces of the Com-
monwealth of Independent States
(CIS), which had been in place in the
conflict zone for the past 14 years,
was officially terminated by the CIS
as of 15 October 2008. Armed forces
of the Russian Federation remained
deployed on the Abkhaz-controlled
side of the zone of conflict. Georgian
and Abkhaz forces, including heavy
weapons, were deployed on their re-
spective sides of the ceasefire line,
facing each other in a potentially
dangerous stand-off. Persisting ten-
sions in Georgian-Russian relations
continued to affect the overall situ-
ation in the region.
55

Twice, on 9 October 2008 and 15
February 2009, the Security Coun-
cil extended the mandate of the
mission for four-month periods,
with the last extension terminat-
ing on 15 June 2009. As a result
of those extensions and notwith-
standing the new challenges in
the aftermath of the August 2008
events, the mission continued its
activities in the area of respon-
sibility, including through active
patrolling, observation and liaison
with the parties.
During the first six months of
2009, the military component of
UNOMIG continued to monitor
and verify the parties’ compliance
with the 1994 Moscow Agreement.
The military observers conducted
patrols in the Gali and Zugdidi
sectors to observe the situation
and investigate incidents. Fewer
patrols, however, were conducted
in the Kodori Valley owing to the
withdrawal of the CIS Peacekeep-
ing Forces and Georgian forces who
provided security guarantees for
United Nations patrols. Participa-
tion in the quadripartite meetings
of the joint fact-finding group and
meetings of working group I of the
coordinating council did not take
place owing to the suspension of
the dialogue between the sides and
56
OMIG) military observers’ winter survival exercise in the
the withdrawal of Georgia from the
1994 Moscow Agreement.
The United Nations police com-
ponent provided assistance to
both parties to enhance law and
order in the Gali and Zugdidi dis-
tricts. The main priorities were
to contribute to the creation of
conditions conducive to the safe,
secure and dignified return of
internally displaced persons and
refugees. This was carried out
through advising, monitoring,
training and equipping local law
enforcement agencies as well as
facilitating cross-ceasefire line
cooperation in improving order
and combating crime.
UNOMIG also continued to support
the process aimed at the political
settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict, the safe, secure and digni-
fied return of refugees and internally
displaced persons to their places of
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UN-
Caucasus mountains, Georgia. 1 March 2004.
(UN Photo by Justyna Melnikiewicz)
previous permanent residence and
increased respect for human rights.
This component covered activities in
the areas of political and civil affairs
as well as human rights in mandated
areas. The main priority remained
the engagement of the parties in di-
rect dialogue on substantive issues,
economic cooperation, confidence-
building measures, humanitarian is-
sues and the monitoring and protec-
tion of human rights.
In accordance with the agreements
reached on 12 August and 8 Sep-
tember 2008 under the auspices
of the European Union presidency,
the sides engaged in international
discussions in Geneva, beginning
on 15 October 2008 under the
co-chairmanship of the European
Union, the Organization for Secu-
rity and Cooperation in Europe and
the United Nations, represented by
the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General. The discussions

Members of the Security Coun-
cil fail to extend the mandate
of the UN Observer Mission in
Georgia (UNOMIG).
15 June 2009.
(UN Photo by Mark Garten)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
Timor-Leste:
towards self-
sustainability,
social cohesion
and development
Timor-Leste today looks very
different from the days of mid-
proceeded in two working groups: working group I on 2006, when a political, hu-
stability and security and working group II on the re- manitarian and security crisis
turn of internally displaced persons and refugees.
of major dimensions threat-
ened the fledgling state. The
The activities of the human rights office covered the security situation as of late
monitoring of the human rights situation throughout 2009 was calm, and the coun-
the mandated area, particularly in the Gali district, try had been able to celebrate
with a focus on the prevention of human rights viola- on 30 August the tenth an-
tions, as well as the provision of legal advisory ser- niversary of the 1999 UN-or-
vices to the local population and the monitoring of ganised Popular Consultation
court trials and detention facilities. In addition, the in a peaceful atmosphere.
office implemented capacity-building projects and
other grass-roots initiatives for the local population, This year also saw further
including initiatives for disadvantaged groups in iso- progress in addressing the two
lated areas. major residual consequences
of the 2006 crisis: the re-
In May 2009, the Secretary-General submitted to the Se- integration of the Timorese
curity Council a package of recommendations relating to Armed Forces (F-FDTL) “peti-
the future activities of the mission and a future security tioners” into civilian life, and
regime in UNOMIG’s area of operations. However, the the closure of all 65 internally
Council members were not able to reach an agreement displaced persons (IDP) camps
on the basis of those recommendations and the mandate without significant incident.
of the mission was not extended beyond 15 June 2009.
The resumption of primary po-
After the closure of UNOMIG, the United Nations has licing responsibilities by the
continued to play a role within the framework of the Polícia Nacional de Timor-Les-
Geneva discussions, to liaise with the parties and in- te (PNTL) through a gradual,
ternational stakeholders, and continued its activities phased approach based on mu-
on the humanitarian front. tually-agreed criteria between
the Government and UNMIT be-
The maximum authorized strength of UNOMIG was 136 gan on 14 May 2009, with four
military observers, 20 police officers, 114 internation- districts, the police training
al staff, 211 local staff and one UN Volunteer. Over a centre, the maritime unit, and
period of almost 16 years, hundreds of United Nations the police intelligence service
military observers, police, and international and local handed over to the PNTL as of
staff served with UNOMIG. Twelve UNOMIG personnel 22 December.
lost their lives while serving in the mission. 
57
A national police officer
participates in Independence
Day celebrations in front of
the Palácio do Governo, Dili,
Timor-Leste. 20 May 2009.
(UN Photo by Martine Perret)
The current peacekeeping mission,
the United Nations Integrated
Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT),
established in the wake of the
2006 crisis, has been providing
critical assistance to the Timorese
authorities in its four mandated
priority areas: review and reform
of the security sector; strengthen-
ing of the rule of law; promotion
of a culture of democratic gover-
nance and dialogue; and economic
and social development.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
presented a medium-term strategy
in his 4 February 2009 report to the
Security Council, with benchmarks
informed by the national priorities
process and other planning exer-
cises such as the UN development
assistance framework and the plan
for the resumption of responsibili-
ties by the national police.
58
However, progress and stability
have been fragile, as many of the
underlying factors contributing to
the 2006 crisis have remained, in-
cluding poverty (which increased)
and unemployment, lack of an ef-
fective land and property regime
and still-developing institutions,
including in the justice and secu-
rity sectors.
While the return and resettlement
process of IDPs was largely suc-
cessful, tensions in some commu-
nities persisted. Also, while the
commencement of the PNTL re-
sumption process was encouraging
and the security environment con-
tinued to be stable, much remains
to be done to fully develop and
strengthen Timor-Leste’s security
institutions. Long-term security
and stability will depend on the ca-
pacity of the security institutions
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
to function in an accountable and
effective manner, with respect for
the rule of law and human rights. A
package of draft legislation on the
security sector was submitted to
parliament for consideration, and
UNMIT continued to offer advice
and support. Some of the main
challenges for the government in
seeking consensus on such legisla-
tion include defining a meaningful
role for the F-FDTL in a peacetime
setting, clarifying its relationship
with the PNTL and establishing ac-
countability mechanisms and civil-
ian oversight.
During 2009, then Special Repre-
sentative of the Secretary-General
Atul Khare continued to encourage
consultative and democratic deci-
sion-making processes involving a
broad range of stakeholders. While
Fretilin, the largest opposition
 party, continued to publicly deny
the legitimacy of the Alliance for a
Parliamentary Majority (AMP) Gov-
ernment, all political parties con-
tinued to demonstrate respect for
the state institutions. Timor-Leste
President Jose Ramos-Horta con-
tinued to promote dialogue across
the political spectrum and among
all segments of society to address
priority issues facing the country.
On 9 October, Timor-Leste held vil-
lage (“suco”) elections in a generally
peaceful atmosphere with only minor
security-related incidents. The UN
electoral support team, comprised of
UNMIT and UNDP staff, gave advice
and support through an integrated
“One UN” approach. The ability of
the Timorese electoral bodies to orga-
nize the elections successfully dem-
onstrated their increasing capacities
and the public’s continuing faith in
democratic electoral processes.
A family prepares to re-
turn home after spending
three years in the Met-
inaro camp for internally
displaced people following
the Timor-Leste crisis
of April/May 2006. 18
June 2009. (UN Photo by
Antoninho Bernardino)
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
On 13 October, Parliament debated
a “motion of no confidence” tabled
by Fretilin and its ally, KOTA, be-
cause of their opposition to the
release by Timorese authorities to
the Indonesian authorities of for-
mer Laksaur militia leader Mater-
nus Bere, against whom there was
an outstanding warrant for crimes
against humanity. The motion was
defeated by a vote of 39 to 25. The
Secretary-General noted in his re-
port of 2 October that the manner
in which the case has been handled
could have serious consequences for
the prospects of accountability for
the serious crimes which occurred
in 1999. He reiterated the UN posi-
tion that there can be no amnesty
or impunity for war crimes, crimes
against humanity or genocide.
While the renewed political dia-
logue was promising on issues
such as reparations to victims,
justice and reconciliation, and
implementation of the recom-
mendations of the reports of the
Commission for Reception, Truth
and Reconciliation (CAVR) and the
Commission of Truth and Friend-
ship (CTF), victims and their fami-
lies continued to search for justice
and reparations for criminal acts
committed from 1974 to 1999. On
14 December, Parliament called
on its Committee A to assess the
CAVR and CTF reports within three
months and to propose the estab-
lishment of an institution that
would generate concrete measures
for implementation of the reports’
recommendations.
Weaknesses in the judiciary con-
tinued to affect public confidence
in the entire rule of law system,
including in the PNTL. An inde-
pendent comprehensive needs as-
sessment of the justice sector was
59
 completed in 2009, and its recom-
mendations should contribute to
justice sector reform and facilitate
the identification and provision of
assistance needed from the inter-
national community. On 8 June,
the new penal code entered into
force, incorporating core inter-
national criminal law and human
rights standards and making do-
mestic violence a public crime.
Economic and social development
continued to remain critical to long-
term peace and stability in Timor-
Leste. While the country’s Petroleum
Fund has been the major source of
income, UNMIT and other UN part-
ners continued to support fiscal pru-
dence as well as the expansion of
the non-oil sector of the economy.
In 2009, Parliament adopted legisla-
tion aimed at enhancing democratic
governance, including the establish-
ment of anti-corruption and civil ser-
vice commissions.
An unsettling year for the mission
in Afghanistan
Of the seven years that the United
Nations Assistance Mission in Af-
ghanistan (UNAMA) has been in
existence, 2009 would probably
qualify as the most difficult yet.
As a political mission mandated
to provide political and strate-
gic advice for the peace process
and also to help the Government
implement the Afghanistan Com-
pact, UNAMA and its leadership in
2009 faced a crucible of purpose
and resolve through the challeng-
es that were to confront it in the
months to come. Undeterred by
these enormous events, the mis-
sion has continued to cleave to its
principles and to serve the people
of Afghanistan.
60
With regard to the future pres-
ence of UNMIT, the Secretary-
General, in his 2 October report,
stated that any adjustments in
the numbers of UNMIT police
should be carried out in a grad-
ual, step-by-step manner that
helps maintain public confidence
in the stable security situation.
A technical assessment mission
from UN headquarters was to
visit Timor-Leste in January 2010
to develop medium-term recom-
mendations for the configuration
of UNMIT. The Secretary-General
was to make proposals for pos-
sible adjustments in the Mis-
sion’s mandate, composition and
strength in his report scheduled
for February 2010.
In his last address to the Security
Council on 23 October, then Spe-
cial Representative Khare noted
that “UNMIT and the UN country
team have consciously endeav-
Amidst a worsening security situ-
ation in Afghanistan and a ris-
ing number of civilian casual-
ties—1,013 deaths for the first six
months of 2009, up by 24 percent
from the previous year—the Afghan
authorities, with support from the
international community, began
preparations for the presidential
and provincial council elections.
The elections were fully Afghan-
led and organized. However, the
international community provided
funding and technical support
through UNDP/ELECT, and the
international military forces sup-
ported Afghan security institu-
tions. UNAMA mobilized and coor-
dinated the international support,
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
oured to work in a manner that
enhances the capacity and cred-
ibility of the institutions of this
young nation,” instead of taking
the lead in any activity. “This ap-
proach means that progress is not
linear, but depends on the pace at
which national institutions devel-
op….The touchstone for success
in Timor-Leste is not whether or
not crises occur, but how future
crises are met and resolved. The
goal should be to ensure that they
are handled in a responsible man-
ner that does not threaten the
state and instead provides an op-
portunity for enhanced social co-
hesion and development.”
In December, the Secretary-Gen-
eral appointed Ameerah Haq of
Bangladesh as SRSG for Timor-
Leste and head of the UN Inte-
grated Mission there. She took
up her appointment in Dili on 5
January 2010. 
providing a crucial link between
the international community and
Afghans on the ground.
In the run-up to the polling day
on 20 August, doubts were raised
about how many polling centres
could actually be opened. Would
anti-government elements act
upon their repeated threats to
disrupt the process? How much
fraud would occur? And how many
voters would turn out to cast
their votes?
There were achievements on elec-
tion day: approximately 6,200 poll-
ing centres opened and the strin-
gent security apparatus across the
country prevented any major attack

although, by government estimates,
73 incidents took place country-
wide on 20 August. An initial offi-
cial figure put the turnout at 39 per
cent of registered voters.
However, the Independent Election
Commission (IEC) was unable to
prevent widespread fraud. The in-
ternational community and UNAMA
were chastised by the media for
being incapable of stopping fraud,
although it was not in their man-
date to do so.
The mission’s reputation suffered a
further blow, after the Special Rep-
resentative of the Secretary-General
for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, was ac-
cused by his deputy Peter Galbraith
of allowing so-called “ghost poll-
ing stations” in the south of the
country to exist on Election Day.
Just days before a run-off election
was scheduled, terror struck the
UN when five staff members were
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
killed in a dawn attack by gun-
men who stormed a guesthouse in
Kabul. Survivors and eyewitnesses
of the attack recounted stories of
heroism by UN security officers
Louis Maxwell and Lawrence Mef-
ful, who were killed while saving
many lives.
Yet 2009 was also a year of some
achievement. While the presidential
elections were far from perfect, SRSG
Eide had emphasized before the first
ballot was cast, that this was “the
most difficult and complex election”
he had seen. Afghanistan’s was a
fledgling democracy plagued with
insecurity, poor infrastructure and
low literacy levels. However, 4.5 mil-
lion people registered for new voting
cards. Men and women and first-time
voters came out and voted – even
in the embattled south – where they
defied the Taliban’s threats, bombs,
and bullets. The public debates be-
tween candidates and the discourse
in the media were robust and civil.
An Afghan citizen votes
in the country’s presiden-
tial and provincial council
elections, Herat, Afghani-
stan. 20 August 2009.
(UN Photo by Tim Page)
Progress was being made by a matur-
ing democratic state. Although the
country’s election body was unable
to prevent fraud, the process was
followed, and the mechanisms to
detect it worked successfully when
the Electoral Complaints Commission
threw out 18 percent of total votes.
In welcoming the IEC’s decision to
forego a run-off in the presidential
race on 2 November, Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon said, “The
United Nations remains committed
to providing every support and as-
sistance to the new Government in
helping to push forward progress
for all peoples of Afghanistan.”
This was also the third year in which
UNAMA spearheaded efforts during
a month-long campaign leading up
to the International Day of Peace
on 21 September. The campaign
not only encouraged civil society to
participate in promoting the urgent
need for peace in Afghanistan, but
61
 also directly led to a substantial
drop in security incidents (similar
to the 70 percent fall in 2008 on
Peace Day), after pro-government
forces declared a 24-hour cease-
fire. The Taliban also allowed health
workers access to insecure areas by
agreeing to support a Peace Day po-
lio immunisation drive.
UNAMA’s efforts toward improving
the situation in detention centres
such as Bagram air base also moved
forward in November, when the US
Iraq: Coping with a “Herculean task”
In 2009, the United Nations As-
sistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
made significant progress in imple-
menting its mandate from the Secu-
rity Council, under resolution 1830
(2008) and the subsequent resolu-
tion 1883 (2009), in the areas of
political facilitation, elections, re-
gional dialogue, human rights, and
reconstruction and development.
Elections
A priority activity for UNAMI this
year was supporting preparations for
the forthcoming national elections,
scheduled on 7 March 2010. These
elections were to mark the end of
the first full-term of a freely elected
parliament in the country’s history.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stat-
ed his firm belief that these elections
“represent an historic opportunity
for Iraq and a crucial step forward for
national reconciliation. They will also
contribute to Iraq’s political progress
and could go a long way towards
strengthening Iraq’s sovereignty and
independence.” UNAMI was also in-
volved in supporting the conduct
of provincial elections in 14 of the
country’s 18 governorates, as well as
presidential and parliamentary elec-
tions in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
62
military inaugurated a new prison,
replacing the existing facility with
one providing detainees with im-
proved living conditions and rein-
tegration programmes.
As coordinator of the humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan, UNAMA
also launched a $604 million hu-
manitarian action plan to benefit
the country’s most vulnerable
The year 2009 in Afghanistan
may eventually be seen as cli-
Given the challenging political and
security environment in Iraq, the
Secretary-General called the progress
made on the election front a “re-
markable achievement.”
UNAMI has been mandated by the
Security Council to advise, support,
and assist the Government of Iraq
and the Independent High Electoral
Commission (IHEC) on the develop-
ment of processes for holding elec-
tions and referenda. UNAMI has
focused on capacity and institution-
building for the IHEC and heads the
International Electoral Assistance
Team (IEAT), which is comprised of
international advisors from various
organizations. UNAMI electoral ad-
visers have been sharing best prac-
tices in electoral administration in
order to help the IHEC to undertake
elections that will be credible and ac-
cepted by the Iraqi people. The IEAT
also strives to support processes that
enhance the independence, transpar-
ency and credibility of the IHEC. This
support included the voter registra-
tion update exercise, accompanied
by a national voter education cam-
paign. More than 1.5 million Iraqis
visited one of 1,082 voter registra-
tion centres to register or confirm
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
macteric, when progress and mis-
takes were made and communi-
ties were empowered and lessons
learnt through the historic elec-
tions in August. The UN in 2010
faces an opportunity to address
these challenges. A high-level in-
ternational conference to be held
in late January in London was to
provide an opportunity for the
international community to set
that agenda, with their Afghan
partners. 
their personal data, and 18 million
voter information cards were distrib-
uted nationwide.
Ensuring that basic standards
would be met for the national elec-
tions would be, according to the
Special Representative of the Sec-
retary-General, Ad Melkert, during
his briefing to the Security Council
in November, a “herculean task.”
(Melkert succeeded SRSG Staffan di
Mistura in July.)
Briefing the Security Council in No-
vember, went on to say that “suc-
cess is far from guaranteed as inside
and outside forces continue their
efforts to impose an agenda of di-
vision and destruction. Opposed
to this stands the will of the Iraqi
people to participate in the design
of the future and to democratically
mandate its leaders.”
Disagreements in the Iraqi Council
of Representatives led to delays
in the passage of the electoral
law, which set back the timetable
for national elections by several
months. These elections must be
held before 15 March 2010 – the
end of the legislative term of the

current parliament. In December,
through the mediation efforts of
SRSG Melkert, UNAMI helped Iraqi
leaders reach compromises on a
number of contentious issues, in-
cluding the allocation of seats, and
agreed on a number of amendments
to the electoral law. Subsequently,
the Council of Representatives ad-
opted the amended law, and the
Presidency Council set the date for
the election on 7 March 2010.
Disputed internal boundaries
In 2009, UNAMI was actively en-
gaged in seeking a resolution to the
issue of disputed internal bound-
aries. This involved addressing a
range of issues including territorial
boundary delineation, federal and
provincial competencies and respon-
sibilities, revenue-sharing and oil
extraction, service delivery and secu-
rity arrangements. Without resolving
these issues, SRSG Melkert stressed
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
United Nations electoral staff at a polling station in Erbil, Iraq.
to the Council, “the new Iraq will be
permanently at risk of being pulled
back or dragged into a fundamen-
tally destabilizing conflict.”
Under UNAMI’s auspices, a high-
level task force was established
in July to bring together repre-
sentatives of the Government of
Iraq and the Iraqi Kurdistan Re-
gional Government to find com-
mon ground on issues of mutual
concern and identify possible
confidence-building measures. At
the end of the year, some progress
was made on addressing measures
to expedite property claims, im-
prove detention procedures and
guarantee the right to education
in children’s mother tongue.
Economic growth and social
progress
The aim of UNAMI’s political efforts
has been to create an environment
25 July 2009. (UN Photo by Rick Bajornas)
for economic growth and social
progress, including by assisting the
Government of Iraq in the formu-
lation of a national development
plan (NDP). The UN Country Team
launched the first common country
assessment (CCA) for Iraq, focusing
on three key areas: governance, in-
clusive economic growth and es-
sential services. In turn, both the
NDP and CCA were incorporated un-
der the UN development assistance
framework (UNDAF) 2010-2014,
to provide a harmonised approach
to sustainable development in the
coming years.
A new period of potential invest-
ment in economic growth and so-
cial progress began in November
with the International Reconstruc-
tion Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI)
Donor Committee meeting, where
options were discussed for a new
funding and coordination mecha-
63
 nism, including the establishment
of a new UN multi-donor trust fund
that would build on the achieve-
ments of the Reconstruction Fund.
In November, during a meeting in
Baghdad between the Government
of Iraq and representatives of the
donor community, a decision was
reached to begin a new partnership
between Iraq and the international
community, with Iraq in the lead,
building on the accomplishments
of the International Compact with
Iraq (ICI).
The United Nations also em-
barked on a number of activities
to strengthen governance and the
rule of law in Iraq, helping in the
preparation of the first Iraqi na-
tional anti-corruption strategy,
which identified several key areas
of engagement, including political
party and elections financing and a
civil service code of conduct.
Nepal’s peace process falters
The peace process in Nepal, so
hopeful after a peace agreement
in 2006 and democratic elections
in 2008, stalled in 2009 when rela-
tions between the party of the for-
mer Maoist insurgents and Nepal’s
other major political parties dete-
riorated, and the Prime Minister—
the former Maoist leader known as
Prachanda—resigned in May.
The Maoist party UCPN-M went on
to block parliament and hold nu-
merous street protests and strikes
throughout the rest of the year,
with the political situation deterio-
rating further in late December.
Karin Landgren, Representative of
the Secretary-General in Nepal, car-
ried out continuous quiet diploma-
cy throughout the year. She headed
64
Regional cooperation
The promotion of regional coop-
eration has also been a key ac-
tivity for UNAMI. The mission has
tried to assist Iraq and Kuwait in
normalizing their relations and
addressing Iraq’s outstanding
Security Council obligations to
its neighbour. The hope is that
progress in this regard could in
turn help create a positive mo-
mentum for the normalization of
Iraq’s standing in the interna-
tional community including, and
subject to the Security Council’s
approval, the eventual lifting of
all outstanding Chapter VII man-
dates on Iraq since resolution 661
(1990). UNAMI also continued to
work on promoting and support-
ing regional cooperation in other
areas, in particular in relation
to water issues involving Turkey,
Syria and Iran.
the United Nations political mission
in Nepal (UNMIN) which had sup-
ported Nepalis with the electoral
process as well as with monitoring
the cantonment sites of the Maoist
army personnel.
One of the unfulfilled provisions of
the peace process has been the re-
habilitation or integration into the
government security forces of some
19,000 Maoist army personnel—
including 3,000 children—who re-
mained cantoned in camps around
the country since the end of the civil
war. The ex-combatants were to have
been discharged after completion of
a verification process. But the army
had resisted integrating them.
However, in late 2009, a high-level
committee on the future of the
UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS
Promotion of human rights
Throughout the year, the protection
and promotion of human rights was
a key priority for UNAMI. It issued
its 15th human rights report for the
period covering January to June
2009 which highlighted improve-
ments as well as raised concerns on
the situation of human rights in the
country. It also made special em-
phasis on the areas of rule of law
and impunity, the reimplementation
of the death penalty, the situation
in prisons and detention centres,
and allegations of torture. UNAMI
also continued to provide capacity-
building assistance to Iraqi min-
istries, including support for the
establishment of an Iraqi Human
Rights Commission.
The United Nations remains com-
mitted to assist the people of Iraq
to rebuild their country and achieve
lasting peace and stability. 
cantoned personnel was re-con-
stituted. And on 16 December, the
United Nations, the Government of
Nepal and the Unified Communist
Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M)
signed an action plan for the dis-
charge of Maoist army personnel
disqualified in the United Nations-
led verification process in 2007.
The UN and the government will as-
sist their rehabilitation, once they
have been officially discharged.  The
ex-combatants will have access to a
range of rehabilitation options de-
veloped by UN agencies. The action
plan will be monitored by a UN-led
team to ensure that those disquali-
fied are given the choice to partake
in programmes to assist their return
to a civilian environment, and that
they are not exposed to recruitment
by groups who engage in violence
or criminal activities.
The Secretary-General’s Special
Representative for Children and
Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaras-
wamy, attended the signing event,
and said that the minors who spent
the last three years in cantonments
with their lives on hold will finally
be able to take the next step to-
wards a more positive future. The
agreement was the first step in re-
Stability maintained in Kosovo
In 2009, its 10th year in opera-
tion, the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK) continued to contrib-
ute to maintaining stability in
the region as it transformed into
a smaller, more politically-focused
mission. At the end of June, the
mission completed its reconfigura-
tion, which the Secretary-General
had initiated in response to the
changed situation on the ground,
notably the deployment of the Eu-
ropean Union rule of law mission in
Kosovo (EULEX) in December 2008.
EULEX declared itself fully opera-
tion in April 2009.
UNMOGIP monitors ceasefire in Jammu
and Kashmir
UNMOGIP, the second oldest UN
peacekeeping operation after UN-
TSO in the Middle East, was de-
ployed in January 1949 to super-
vise the ceasefire agreed between
India and Pakistan in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir. Until today,
UNMOGIP's functions have been
to observe and report, investi-
gate complaints of ceasefire vio-
lations and submit its findings to
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
moving the UCPN-M from the list of
parties which recruit and use chil-
dren in conflict.
It was an “historic step” in Nepal’s
peace process, Landgren said. “We
hope that it will encourage other
steps to unblock the current politi-
cal stalemate.”
In November, Landgren addressed
the Security Council, reporting little
progress in overcoming the political
Largely as a result of EULEX assum-
ing responsibilities in the fields of
police, justice and customs, UNMIK
staff was reduced to about 500, a 90
percent cut from the previous year.
While continuing to operate under
Security Council resolution 1244
of 1999, UNMIK has concentrated
its resources on facilitating practi-
cal cooperation between Kosovo’s
communities and between the au-
thorities in Pristina and Belgrade,
monitoring and reporting with an
emphasis on community issues,
and facilitating Kosovo’s participa-
tion in regional and international
each party and to the Secretary-
General.
Over the past year, UNMOGIP contin-
ued to observe and report develop-
ments pertaining to the strict obser-
vance of the ceasefire. The activity
in the field is coordinated by a main
headquarters in Islamabad, and a
rear headquarters in Srinagar during
the winter (and the reverse in sum-
impasse that emerged earlier this
year when the President revoked the
army chief’s dismissal by the then-
Maoist-led Government and Prime
Minister Kamal Dahal. At issue was
the fate of the cantoned Maoists.
Other critical key objectives in the
peace process, such as the finaliza-
tion of a new constitution by May
2010, must take place for the con-
fidence of Nepalis to be restored,
she said. 
mechanisms important for Kosovo’s
development, such as the Central
European Free Trade Agreement,
the Regional Cooperation Council
and Interpol.
UNMIK maintains strict neutrality
regarding the legality of Kosovo’s
2008 declaration of indepen-
dence, on which the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected
to issue a non-binding opinion
in 2010. Sixty-four UN member
states had recognized Kosovo as
of December 2009, when the ICJ
held nine days of public hearings
on the matter. 
mer), and carried out by 43 military
observers deployed in field stations
and mobile observation teams. A li-
aison office is located in New Delhi
(India). In addition, international
United Nations staff, assisted by lo-
cal staff, provide administrative and
logistical support. Military personnel
from the Indian and Pakistani armies
provide drivers, security and field
station domestic services. 
65
 Postscript:
Disaster struck Haiti in early 2010. Badly damaged, with scores of peacekeepers lost,
the UN mission worked to help the country recover.
Here are a few images from MINUSTAH, January 12-20, 2010.

66 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

Top 10 Providers of Assessed Financial Contributions to
UN Peacekeeping Operations
United States
27.17%
Japan
12.53% Top 10 contributors of uniformed
United Kingdom personnel to UN peacekeeping operations
8.16%
(31 December 2009)
Germany
8.02% Pakistan - 10,764
France Bangladesh - 10,427
7.56%
Italy
5.00%
China
3.94% India - 8,757
Canada
3.21%
Spain
3.18%
Others - 39,361
Republic of Korea
2.23% Nigeria - 5,807

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Egypt - 5,155
Percentage of assesed contributions
Nepal - 4,311

Jordan - 3,798
Uruguay - 2,513
Rwanda - 3,671
Ghana - 3,633

Surge in uniformed UN Peacekeeping personnel from 1991 to 2009

120,000
Dec.2009: 98,197
(MONUC,UNAMID, UNIFIL)
100,000
Jul 1993: 78,444
Oct 2006: 80,976
(Largest missions: UNPROFOR, UNOSOM, UNTAC)
(MONUC, UNMIL, UNMIS,UNIFIL)
80,000

60,000 Nov 2001: 47,778

(UNAMSIL, UNTAET)

40,000

20,000

0
1991-Jan

1992-Jan

1993-Jan

1994-Jan

1995-Jan

1996-Jan

1997-Jan

1998-Jan

1999-Jan

2000-Jan

2001-Jan

2002-Jan

2003-Jan

2004-Jan

2005-Jan

2006-Jan

2007-Jan

2008-Jan

2009-Jan

YEAR IN REVIEW 2009 67

 UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
As of 31 December 2009
Peacekeeping operations since 1948…………………................................................................………63
Current peacekeeping operations…………………….........................…..........................................…..15
Current peace operations directed and supported by the Dept.of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)…….…….17

PERSONNEL
Uniformed personnel (82,868 troops, 12,781 police and 2,209 military observers) .............................97,858 *
Countries contributing uniformed personnel .....................................................................................115
International civilian personnel (31 October 2009).......................................................................5,827 *
Local civilian personnel (31 October 2009)............................................................................... 13,330 *
UNV Volunteers..........................................................................................................................2,562 *
Total number of personnel serving in 15 peacekeeping operations .................................................119,577
Total number of personnel serving in 17 DPKO-led peace operations ..............................................121,716 **
Total number of fatalities in peace operations since 1948 ................................................................2,677 ***

FINANCIAL ASPECTS
Approved resources for the period from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010...........................About US$7.75 billion
Estimated total cost of operations from 1948 to 30 June 2009......................................About US$61 billion
Outstanding contributions to peacekeeping.................................................................About US$1.85 billion

* Numbers include 15 peacekeeping operations only. Statistics for two special political and/or peacebuilding missions—BINUB
and UNAMA—directed and supported by DPKO can be found at http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/ppbm.pdf.
** This figure includes the total number of uniformed and civilian personnel serving in 15 peacekeeping operations and
two DPKO-led special political and/or peacebuilding missions—BINUB and UNAMA.
*** Includes fatalities for all UN peace operations.

68 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

 CURRENT PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
UNTSO Since May 1948
United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
Strength: military observer 151; international civilian 96; local civilian
129; total personnel 376
Fatalities: 50
Appropriation 2008-09: $66.22 million
UNMOGIP Since January 1949
United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
Strength: military observer 43; international civilian 25; local
civilian 47; total personnel 115
Fatalities: 11
Appropriation 2008-09: $16.96 million
UNFICYP Since March 1964
United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Strength: troop 855; police 66; international civilian 40; local civilian
112; total personnel 1,073
Fatalities: 180
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $54.41million
UNDOF Since June 1974
United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
Strength: troop 1,043; international civilian 40; local civilian 103; total
personnel 1,186
Fatalities: 43
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $45.03 million
UNIFIL Since March 1978
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
Strength: troop 11,862 international civilian 324; local civilian 663;
total personnel 12,849
Fatalities: 282
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $589.80 million
MINURSO Since April 1991
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
Strength: military observer 199; troop 27; police 6; international civilian
97; local civilian 157; UN volunteer 19; total personnel 505
Fatalities: 15
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $53.53 million
UNMIK Since June 1999
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
Strength: military observer 9; police 8; international civilian 148; local
civilian 283; UN volunteer 25; total personnel 473
Fatalities: 54
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $46.81 million
MONUC Since November 1999
United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo
Strength: military observer 705; troop 18,646; police 1,158;
international civilian 1,005; local civilian 2,613; UN volunteer 648;
total personnel 24,775
Fatalities: 155
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $1,346.58 million
UNMIL Since September 2003
United Nations Mission in Liberia
Strength: military observer 118; troop 9,505; police 1,324;
international civilian 455; local civilian 984; UN volunteer 228; total
personnel 12,614
Fatalities: 143
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $560.98 million
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
UNOCI Since April 2004
United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire
Strength: military observer 189; troop 7,202; police 1,145;
international civilian 400 ; local civilian 682; UN volunteer 304; total
personnel 9,922
Fatalities: 64
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $491.77 million
MINUSTAH Since June 2004
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
Strength: troop 7,032; police 2,025; international civilian 482; local
civilian 1,228; UN volunteer 215; total personnel 10,982
Fatalities: 59
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $611.75 million
UNMIS Since March 2005
United Nations Mission in the Sudan
Strength: military observer 476; troop 9,093; police 693; international
civilian 827; local civilian 2,555; UN volunteer 367; total personnel
14,011
Fatalities: 50
Approved budget 07/09–06/10: $958.35 million
UNMIT Since August 2006
United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste
Strength: military observer 35; police 1,517; international civilian 366;
local civilian 895; UN volunteer 198; total personnel 3,011
Fatalities: 7
Approved budget 07/09–06/10 $205.94 million
UNAMID Since July 2007
African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
Current strength: military observer 260; troop 15,114; police 4,575;
international civilian 1,093; local civilian 2,481; UN volunteer 410;
total personnel 23,933
Authorized strength: military observer 240; troop 19,315; police 6,432;
international civilian 1,579; local civilian 3,455; UN volunteer 548
Fatalities: 55
Approved budget 07/09–06/10 $1,598.94 million
MINURCAT Since September 2007
United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad
Current strength: military observer 24; troop 2,489; police 264;
international civilian 429; local civilian 398; UN volunteer 148; total
personnel 3,752
Fatalities: 3
Approved budget 07/09–06/10 $690.75 million
Mission ended in 2009:
UNOMIG August 1993 - June 2009
United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia
NOTE: UNTSO and UNMOGIP are funded from the United Nations regular bien-
nial budget. Costs to the United Nations of the other current operations are
financed from their own separate accounts on the basis of legally binding as-
sessments on all Member States. For these missions, budget figures are for one
year (07/09—06/10) unless otherwise specified. For information on United
Nations political missions, see DPI/2166/Rev.79 also available on the web at
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/ppbm.pdf.
69
 UNITED NATIONS POLITICAL AND PEACEBUILDING MISSIONS
As of 31 December 2009

NUMBER OF MISSIONS ...................................................................................................................12

PERSONNEL
Uniformed personnel.....................................................................................................................357
International civilian personnel (31 October 2009)............................................................................1,010
Local civilian personnel (31 October 2009)......................................................................................2,322
UNV Volunteers ............................................................................................................................125
Total number of personnel serving in political and peacebuilding missions ..........................................3,814

For information on United Nations peacekeeping operations, visit the United Nations website at
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/bnote.htm

70 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS

 CURRENT POLITICAL AND PEACEBUILDING MISSIONS
UNPOS Since 15 April 1995
United Nations Political Office for Somalia
Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah (Mauritania)
Strength: international civilian 43; local civilian 15
UNOGBIS Since 3 March 1999
United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau
Representative of the Secretary-General:
Joseph Mutaboba (Rwanda)
Strength: international civilian 12; local civilian 13;
military adviser 2; police adviser 1
UNSCO Since 1 October 1999
Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator
for the Middle East
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General
to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the
Palestinian Authority: Robert H. Serry (Netherlands)
Strength: international civilian 29; local civilian 26
BONUCA Since 15 February 2000
United Nations Peacebuilding Office in the Central
African Republic
Representative of the Secretary-General:
Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia)
Strength: international civilian 24; local civilian 53;
military adviser 5; police 6; UNV volunteer 3
UNSCOL Since 16 February 2007
Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for
Lebanon
(Formerly known as Office of the Personal Represen-
tative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon)
Special Coordinator for Lebanon:
Michael C. Williams (United Kingdom)
Strength: international civilian 20; local civilian 51
UNOWA Since 29 November 2001
Office of the Special Representative of the Secre-
tary-General for West Africa
Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
Said Djinnit (Algeria)
Strength: international civilian 13; local civilian 10;
military adviser 4
* Political or peacebuilding mission directed and supported
by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. All other
political and peacebuilding missions are directed by the De-
partment of Political Affairs. For information on political and
peacebuilding missions, visit the United Nations website at
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/index.html
YEAR IN REVIEW 2009
UNAMA* Since 28 March 2002
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
Kai Eide (Norway)
Strength: international civilian 339; local civilian
1,298; military observer 17; police 3; UNV volunteer 53
UNAMI Since 14 August 2003
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
Iraq: Ad Melkert (Netherlands)
Authorized strength: 1,014 (463 international, 551 local)
Current strength (staff based in Iraq, Jordan and
Kuwait): international civilian 321; local civilian 456;
troop 221; military observer 11
UNIPSIL Since 1 October 2008
United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in
Sierra Leone
Executive Representative of the Secretary-General:
Michael von der Schulenburg (Germany)
Strength: international civilian 29; local civilian 29
BINUB* Since 1 January 2007
United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi
Executive Representative of the Secretary-General:
Youssef Mahmoud (Tunisia)
Strength: international civilian 125; local civilian
239; military observer 5; police 10; UNV volunteer 50
UNMIN Since 23 January 2007
United Nations Mission in Nepal
Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
Karin Landgren (Sweden)
Strength: international civilian 48; local civilian 119;
military observer 72; UNV volunteer 19
UNRCCA Since 10 December 2007
United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive
Diplomacy for Central Asia
Special Representative of the Secretary-General:
Miroslav Jenča (Slovakia)
Strength: international civilian 7; local civilian 13
Missions ended in 2009:
UNOGBIS March 1999 – December 2009
United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau
It was succeeded by UNIOGBIS (United Nations Inte-
grated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau)
BONUCA February 2000 – December 2009
United Nations Peacebuilding Office in the Central
African Republic
It was succeeded by BINUCA (United Nations Integrated
Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic)
71
peacekeeping contributors (Police, Military Experts on Mission and Troops as of 31 December 2009)
No. Country Police MEM Troops Total No. Country Police MEM Troops Total
1 Albania 63 63 59 Kyrgyzstan 15 9 24
2 Argentina 32 8 821 861 60 Libya 3 3
3 Australia 25 24 9 58 61 Madagascar 50 50
4 Austria 49 11 391 451 62 Malawi 52 26 124 202
5 Bangladesh 1,614 98 8,715 10,427 63 Malaysia 243 48 776 1,067
6 Belgium 10 257 267 64 Mali 56 18 2 76
7 Benin 135 27 1,178 1,340 65 Moldova 8 8
8 Bolivia 31 410 441 66 Mongolia 8 386 394
9 Bosnia and Herzegovina 23 5 28 67 Montenegro 1 2 3
10 Brazil 10 46 1,288 1,344 68 Morocco 5 1,557 1,562
11 Brunei 7 7 69 Mozambique 3 3
12 Bulgaria 1 1 70 Namibia 33 14 9 56
13 Burkina Faso 60 17 627 704 71 Nepal 814 60 3,437 4,311
14 Burundi 65 7 4 76 72 Netherlands 19 18 3 40
15 Cambodia 5 93 98 73 New Zealand 25 12 1 38
16 Cameroon 145 9 154 74 Niger 131 24 387 542
17 Canada 115 39 16 170 75 Nigeria 806 86 4,915 5,807
18 Central African Republic 17 17 76 Norway 23 28 163 214
19 Chad 56 3 1 60 77 Pakistan 866 115 9,783 10,764
20 Chile 3 7 515 525 78 Palau 2 2
21 China 191 53 1,892 2,136 79 Paraguay 48 48 96
22 Congo 1 1 80 Peru 25 213 238
23 Colombia 26 26 81 Phillipines 405 23 634 1,062
24 Côte d’Ivoire 132 132 82 Poland 3 14 19 36
25 Croatia 11 16 110 137 83 Portugal 200 4 146 350
26 Cyprus 2 2 84 Qatar 3 3
27 Czech Republic 5 5 10 85 Republic of Korea 4 25 368 397
28 Denmark 27 148 175 86 Romania 44 50 1 95
29 Djibouti 51 2 53 87 Russia 50 76 239 365
30 Ecuador 14 68 82 88 Rwanda 157 20 3,494 3,671
31 Egypt 286 99 4,770 5,155 89 Samoa 16 16
32 El Salvador 47 15 52 114 90 Senegal 583 52 1,610 2,245
33 Estonia 1 1 91 Serbia 11 7 27 45
34 Ethiopia 10 19 2,143 2,172 92 Sierra Leone 63 12 60 135
35 Fiji 43 7 221 271 93 Singapore 21 2 23
36 Finland 6 19 76 101 94 Slovakia 2 196 198
37 France 99 26 1,485 1,610 95 Slovenia 1 2 14 17
38 FYR of Macedonia 1 1 96 South Africa 154 32 1,992 2,178
39 Gabon 1 1 97 Spain 39 3 1,050 1,092
40 Gambia 147 3 199 349 98 Sri Lanka 98 13 959 1,070
41 Germany 17 27 244 288 99 Sweden 34 24 2 60
42 Ghana 444 56 3,133 3,633 100 Switzerland 7 18 25
43 Greece 4 51 55 101 Tajikistan 9 9
44 Grenada 1 1 102 Tanzania 62 27 365 454
45 Guatemala 14 270 284 103 Thailand 18 17 10 45
46 Guinea 72 14 86 104 Togo 48 17 773 838
47 Honduras 12 12 105 Tunisia 38 467 505
48 Hungary 6 88 94 106 Turkey 169 1 582 752
49 Iceland 2 2 107 Uganda 186 5 2 193
50 India 738 77 7,942 8,757 108 Ukraine 64 27 279 370
51 Indonesia 156 28 1,473 1,657 109 United Kingdom 7 275 282
52 Iran 2 2 110 United States of America 55 8 12 75
53 Ireland 18 20 426 464 111 Uruguay 17 56 2,440 2,513
54 Italy 5 21 2,425 2,451 112 Vanuatu 46 46
55 Jamaica 29 29 113 Yemen 150 63 12 225
56 Japan 6 33 39 114 Zambia 300 56 659 1,015
57 Jordan 1,607 59 2,132 3,798 115 Zimbabwe 109 27 4 140
58 Kenya 40 28 811 879
POLICE MEM TROOP
72 Totals 12,794 2,314 83,089 Grand total in PKO 98,197
UN Day Concert 2009:
A Tribute to Peacekeeping

23 October 2009
 DAY CONCERT
23 OCTOBER 2009
GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL
UNITED NATIONS ●
NEW YORK
Poster designed by the Outreach Division/DPI, New York

A TRIBUTE TO
PEACEKEEPING
Produced by the Peace and Security Section of the United Nations USD 10
Department of Public Information ISBN 978-92-1-101215-6

For information on UN peacekeeping visit:

http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/

Printed at the United Nations, New York

09-64044—January 2010—8,000